The Collaborative International Dictionary
Certain \Cer"tain\, a. [F. certain, fr. (assumed) LL. certanus, fr. L. certus determined, fixed, certain, orig. p. p. of cernere to perceive, decide, determine; akin to Gr. ? to decide, separate, and to E. concern, critic, crime, riddle a sieve, rinse, v.]
-
Assured in mind; having no doubts; free from suspicions concerning.
To make her certain of the sad event.
--Dryden.I myself am certain of you.
--Wyclif. -
Determined; resolved; -- used with an infinitive.
However, I with thee have fixed my lot, Certain to undergo like doom.
--Milton. -
Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
--Dan. ii. 45. -
Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.
Virtue that directs our ways Through certain dangers to uncertain praise.
--Dryden.Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all.
--Shak. -
Unfailing; infallible.
I have often wished that I knew as certain a remedy for any other distemper.
--Mead. -
Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
The people go out and gather a certain rate every day.
--Ex. xvi. 4. -
Not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; -- sometimes used independenty as a noun, and meaning certain persons.
It came to pass when he was in a certain city.
--Luke. v. 12.About everything he wrote there was a certain natural grace und decorum.
--Macaulay.For certain, assuredly.
Of a certain, certainly.
Syn: Bound; sure; true; undeniable; unquestionable; undoubted; plain; indubitable; indisputable; incontrovertible; unhesitating; undoubting; fixed; stated.
Wiktionary
adv. (context obsolete English) certainly
Usage examples of "of a certain".
As you may remember if you are of a certain age and disposition, this was a quiz show—.
But he decided to go for a walk to get rid of a certain drowsiness he felt and that he put down to an unexpectedly ample lunch with wine at the meal and brandy to follow.
Yet I would allow also of a certain portion of extempore address, as occasion may require.
He had a definite thing for Kundalan females of a certain type, the single trait he had inherited from his father.
He slung the coins together in the sacktight, so they'd not clinkand set off over the rooftops in search of a certain bedchamber.
As long as the mark of the Valheru exists, he will never be free of a certain suspicion.
He slung the coins together in the sack-tight, so they'd not clink-and set off over the rooftops in search of a certain bedchamber.
Bentley, who has written near a thousand pages of immense erudition, giving a full and true account of a certain squabble of wonderful importance between himself and a bookseller: he is a writer of infinite wit and humour.
But, meanwhile, I had decided what to do, and had told my friend that I would walk with him as far as our paths lay together, and then I would trouble him to turn aside with me up to the cottage of a certain stout and worthy pitman whom I knew.
It was such a perfect oval that I thought at once of a certain scroll in Auntie's room, showing an ink painting of a courtesan from the Heian period a thousand years earlier.
I perceived that the contents of a certain brown leather case were the objective of the crimes.
But a man who has selected the career of a war correspondent from amongst those which Fleet Street offers, is the victim of a certain craving for fresh experiences.
She was aware of a certain spiritual vertigo, as though she trembled at the edge of some precipice.
There washnt much left of a certain caravan after the last boojum raid, so they moved the road south.