WordNet
n. a determining or causal element or factor; "education is an important determinant of one's outlook on life" [syn: determinant, determiner, determinative, causal factor]
an argument that is conclusive [syn: clincher, determiner]
Usage examples of "determining factor".
As a matter of fact, the opportunity to send an agent to obtain badly needed supplies-one who could do so safely and without arousing the suspicions of the company authorities-had been the determining factor in the Governor's unprecedented decision to risk compromising the secrets of his constituency.
Here the radius, a straight line, is clearly the determining factor.
The body's inertial mass is then related to this distortion of its field, resulting in an expression for mass in which the determining factor is the motion through the locally dominant gravitational field and the field's energy density.
He was the best officer of his age group, and his performance in the field had won him high-level attention, ever the determining factor in the ultimate advancement.
It wasn't the first time Clark had seen good men lost, and as before, the determining factor was nothing more than luck, but that was a lousy explanation to have to give to a new widow.
It meant that the ultimate, not the initial destination of the goods was the determining factor.
As a matter of fact, the opportunity to send an agent to obtain badly needed supplies-one who could do so safely and without arousing the suspicions of the company authorities-had been the determining factor in the Governor’.