Definition of "certain"

certain

/ˈsɜːtn̩/

adjective
comparative more certain or certainer, superlative most certain or certainest
1. Sure in one's mind, positive; absolutely confident in the truth of something.
  Quotations
  […] I think, nay, I may say that I'm sartain, we'll have a hurricane afore morning. It's not the first time I've cruised in these latitudes.
  1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter VIII, in Peter Simple. […], volume III, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, page 113
2. Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
  Quotations
  […] the dreame is certaine, and the interpretation thereof ſure.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Daniel 2:45, column 1
3. Sure to happen, inevitable; assured.
  Quotations
  […] death (as the Pſalmiſt ſaith) is certaine to all, all ſhall die.
  c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, [Act III, scene ii]
  How vain is Virtue which directs our ways Through certain danger to uncertain praiſe!
  1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, Act II, page 29
4. Unfailing; infallible.
  Quotations
  I have often wished, that I knew so certain a remedy in any other disease
  1702, Richard Mead, Mechanical Account of Poisons
5. Fixed; regular; determinate.
  Quotations
  Then ſaid the Lord vnto Moſes, Behold, I will raine bread from heauen for you: and the people ſhall goe out, and gather a certaine rate euery day, that I may proue them, whether they will walke in my Law, or no.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Exodus 16:4, column 1
6. Particular and definite, but unspecified or unnamed; used to introduce someone or something without going into further detail.
  Quotations
  And it came to paſſe, when he was in a certaine citie […]
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Luke 5:12, column 1
  About everything that he wrote, serious or sportive, there was a certain natural grace and decorum […]
  1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith ”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, page 365
7. (preceded by "a", of a person) Named but not previously mentioned.
8. (preceded by "a", of a person) Used before the name of someone famous that people are expected to know.
9. (obsolete) Determined; resolved.
  Quotations
  However I with thee have fixt my Lot, Certain to undergoe like doom […]
  1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 952–953
determiner
1. Having been determined but not specified.
  Quotations
  One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly-appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 26
pronoun
1. (with of) Unnamed or undescribed members (of).
  Quotations
  […] certaine of the Jewes banded together […]
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Acts 23:12, column 2

Definition of "certain"

certain

adjective

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determiner

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pronoun

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