Word Finder - decisive

definition

Having the power or quality of deciding a question or controversy; putting an end to contest or controversy; final; conclusive.

example

A decisive battle is fatal for one side's war chances

definition

Marked by promptness and decision.

example

A noble instance of this attribute of the decisive character. -J. Foster.

His decisive whisper was husky.

The decisive moment has arrived.

I respect a man who is decisive and follows through - as long as he confines it to his own household.

The decisive victories were gained by Jeroboam II.

In 174 Aurelius gained over the Quadi a decisive victory, which is commemorated by one of the sculptures on the column of Antonine.

Few among the ancient Danish nobility occupy so prominent a place in Danish history as Johan Friis, who exercised a decisive influence in the government of the realm during the reign of three kings.

Sir George, being without definite instructions from England, could give no decisive answer, but he was friendly disposed to the Natal farmers.

The judges who governed the island were always at strife, and, as some of them applied to Pisa and some to Genoa for assistance against one another, the Italian seas were once more stained with blood, and the war burst out again and again, down to 1259, when it terminated in the decisive victory of the Pisans and the consolidation of their supremacy in Sardinia.

This was the moment chosen by Genoa for a desperate and decisive struggle with her perpetual rival.

Arequipa, like Cordoba and Chuquisaca, is a stronghold of clericalism and exercises a decisive influence in politics as well as in church matters.

The delay had, however, opened a gap between Kolowrat and the 3rd column on his left; and towards this gap, and the denuded Pratzen plateau, Napoleon sent forward St Hilaire's division of Soult's corps for the decisive attack.

Is there any one element which communicates the decisive impulse to all the rest, - any predominating agency in the course of social evolution?

Although there are many indications which may make this probable, none of them can be said to be quite decisive."

Details are wanting, but the traditional decisive battle was fought at Alpar on the Theiss, whereupon the victors pressed on to Orsova, and the conquest was completed by Arpad about the year 906.

The defeat suffered by the Suvla troops on the 9th was in reality decisive in so far as the new area was concerned; but, even so, the invaders who had set foot there tried yet again on the 10th to wrest the heights in front of them out of Osmanli keeping.

Though deserted by the Khazars, with whom he had made an alliance upon entering into Pontus, he gained a decisive advantage by a brilliant march across the Armenian highlands into the Tigris plain, and a hard-fought victory over Chosroes' general, Shahrbaraz, in which Heraclius distinguished himself by his personal bravery.

In the decisive battle of K6niggratz the arrival of his army in the field of battle, after a march of nearly 20 m., secured the victory.

The pale clay-coloured gills, offensive odour, and clammy or even viscid top are decisive characters.

At length when both sides were exhausted by their efforts he sent forward nearly a hundred guns which tore asunder by their case-shot fire the enemy's line and marched his reserve right through the gap. Had he possessed an adequate cavalry force the victory would have been decisive.

At length becoming impatient he advanced a portion of his army towards Blucher, who fell back to draw him into a trap. Then the news reached him that Schwarzenberg was pressing down the valley of the Elbe, and, leaving Macdonald to observe Blucher, he hurried back to Bautzen to dispose his troops to cross the Bohemian mountains in the general direction of KOnigstein, a blow which must have had decisive results.

The moment of its composition was indeed decisive.

The deep split over the war on Iraq shattered any illusions in a common position on really decisive foreign issues.

This he endeavoured to do on the 22nd of July 1812, which brought on the important battle of Salamanca (q.v.) in which Battle of Wellington gained a decisive victory, the French Salamanca, falling back to Valladolid and thence to Burgos.

In addition to the decisive victory of Salamanca, Madrid had been occupied, the siege of Cadiz raised, Andalusia freed, and Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz stormed.

For a description of the decisive battle of Vitoria (June 21, 1813), see Vitoria.

For this decisive campaign, Wellington was made a field marshal in the British army, and created duke of Victory 1 by the Portuguese government in Brazil.

The decisive movement was a passage in strength near Fuenterrabia, to the astonishment of Passage of the the enemy, who in view of the width of the river Bidassoa, and the shifting sands, had thought the crossing October 7, impossible at that point.

In its effects on the international situation Navarino may be reckoned one of the decisive battles of the world.

Reinforced by the Cenomani, he gained a decisive victory on the banks of the Addua.

The decisive defeat of Parker by President Roosevelt did much to bring back the Democrats to Mr Bryan's banner.

After a heated contest Mr Bryan again suffered a decisive defeat, President Taft securing 321 electoral votes to Mr Bryan's 162.

Any application for a revision of the award must be based on the discovery of new evidence of such a nature as to exercise a decisive influence on the judgment and unknown up to the time when the hearing was closed, both to the tribunal itself and to the party asking for the revision.

Imagining himself sure of a brilliant destiny in Europe if he lost his Brazilian crown, the emperor attempted to risk a decisive attack against the Liberals, and to form a new ministry composed of men favourable to absolutism.

Besides its connexion with the speculations of Anselm, the doctrine of Roscellinus was also of decisive influence within the schools in crystallizing the opposite opinion.

The success of this enterprise was decisive and rapid, and the "Cobden prints" soon became known through the country as of rare value both for excellence of material and beauty of design.

The Austrian commander-in-chief, Count Haynau, was to attack Hungary from the west, the Russian, Prince Paskevich, from the north, gradually environing the kingdom, and then advancing to end the business by one decisive blow in the mid-Theissian counties.

On the side of Persia too, where the decisive battle of Shurur (1502) had raised to power Ismail, the first of the modern line of shahs, danger threatened the sultan, and the latter years of his reign were troubled by the spread, under the influence of the new Persian power, of the Shiite doctrine in Kurdistan and Asia Minor.

Not many miles distant, higher up the stream, another decisive battle was fought between the same national antagonists, but with a contrary result, on the memorable 3rd of July 1866.

They are liberally supported by alms, direct all .popular assemblies, and have a decisive voice in intertribal quarrels and all matters of consequence.

To him Syracuse owed her deliverance from the younger Dionysius and from Hicetas, who held the rest of Syracuse, and to him both Syracuse and the Sicilian Greeks owed a decisive triumph over Carthage and the safe possession of Sicily west of the river Halycus, the largest portion of the island.

The origin of London will probably always remain a subject of dispute for want of decisive facts.

The battle ended in a decisive victory for the British, whose losses were about ioo, while of the Zulu some 150o men were killed (see Ulundi).

So few examples of glass vessels of this period which have been painted in enamel have come down to us that it has been questioned whether that art was then practised; but several specimens have been described which can leave no doubt on the point; decisive examples are afforded by two cups found at Vaspelev, in Denmark, engravings of which are published in the Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndeghed for 1861, p. 305.

On the 15th of August 1760 Frederick the Great gained a decisive victory near Liegnitz over the Austrians, and in August 1813 Blucher defeated the French in the neighbourhood at the battle of the Katzbach.

This decisive step was not long in making itself felt in the chanceries of Europe.

This solved the difficulty of military service apparently, but with decisive consequences.

First he swept down on the Bani Hanifa in Yemama, who with their rival prophet Mosailama (Mosailima) and 40,000 men were in arms. The battle of Yemama (633) was fierce and decisive.

The battle of Tiirkheim (5th of January 1675) nevertheless resulted in another and this time a decisive victory for the French; a few days after the battle Turenne could report that there was not a soldier of the enemy left in Alsace.

The year 150z was marked by yet another decisive incident in Machiavelli's life.

The peace of the Pyrenees was a decisive event in his personal history as well as in that of France, for one of its most important stipulations referred to his marriage, He had already been strongly attracted to one of the nieces of Mazarin, but reasons of state triumphed over personal impulse; and it was agreed that the new friendship with Spain should be cemented by the marriage of Louis to his cousin, the Infanta Maria Theresa.