undecided

English

Etymology

From Middle English undecided, equivalent to un- +‎ decided.

Pronunciation

• (weak vowel distinction) IPA^(key): /ˌʌndɪˈsaɪ̯.dɪd/, /ˌʌndiˈsaɪ̯.dɪd/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

    • (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˌʌndəˈsaɪ̯.dəd/
• Hyphenation: un‧de‧ci‧ded

Adjective

undecided (comparative more undecided, superlative most undecided)

1. Open and not yet settled or determined.

   Synonyms: indeterminate, unresolved, unsettled, indecisive

   The question of man's destiny is still undecided.

2. Uncommitted, not having reached a decision.

   Synonyms: ambivalent, irresolute, of two minds, indecisive, unsure

   The result of the election is in doubt because of a large number of undecided voters.

   • 1939, “Undecided”, performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Webb and his Orchestra:

     First, you say, you do
     And then you don't
     And then you say, you will
     And then you won't
     You're undecided now
     So what are you gonna do?
     Now you want to play
     And then it's no
     And when you say, you'll stay
     That's when you go
     You're undecided now
     So what are you gonna do?

   • 2005, Bill Clinton, My Life‎^[1], →ISBN, page 439:

     Perot was witty and comfortable in his own skin, which I thought would reassure his supporters and perhaps sway some of the undecided voters.

   • 2024 October 22, Dana Bash and Courtney Pence, “In battleground Pennsylvania, undecided Jewish voters could help swing the election”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     But she’s on text chains with scores of Jewish voters in this swing state who are still undecided and open to arguments from Republicans aggressively pursuing them.

Translations

open and not yet settled or determined

• Bulgarian: нерешен (bg) (nerešen)
• Catalan: indecís (ca)
• Esperanto: nedecidita
• Finnish: ratkaisematon (fi)
• German: unbestimmt (de), unbeantwortet (de), unschlüssig (de), unentschieden (de)
• Hindi: अनिश्चित (aniścit)
• Korean: 미결정 (ko) (migyeoljeong)의, 결정하지 못한.
• Māori: whēangaanga
• Polish: niepewny (pl) m
• Portuguese: indecidido
• Russian: нерешённый (ru) (nerešónnyj)
• Slovene: neodločen
• Ukrainian: неви́рішений (nevýrišenyj)

uncommitted, not having reached a decision

• Bulgarian: колеблив (bg) (kolebliv)
• Catalan: indecís (ca)
• Finnish: epäröivä (fi)
• French: indécis (fr), non décidé
• German: unentschlossen (de), unentschieden (de)
• Greek: αναποφάσιστος (el) (anapofásistos)
• Hungarian: határozatlan (hu)
• Māori: whēangaanga, matawaenga
• Polish: niezdecydowany (pl) m
• Portuguese: indeciso (pt)
• Slovene: neodločen
• Spanish: indeciso (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Danish: ^{(please verify)} tvivlrådig, ^{(please verify)} ubeslutsom, ^{(please verify)} vankelmodig
• French: ^{(please verify)} hésitant (fr), ^{(please verify)} indécis (fr), ^{(please verify)} velléitaire (fr)
• Greek: ^{(please verify)} άβουλος (el) (ávoulos)
• Greenlandic: ^{(please verify)} isumaa oqippoq, ^{(please verify)} nakimmappoq
• Manx: ^{(please verify)} faitagh
• Māori: ^{(please verify)} harotu, ^{(please verify)} kahurangi (mi)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} nehotărât (ro), ^{(please verify)} indecis (ro), ^{(please verify)} șovăitor (ro)
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} слабодушный (ru) (slabodušnyj)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} indeciso (es)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} kararsız (tr)

Noun

undecided (plural undecideds)

1. A voter etc. who has not yet come to a decision.
   • 2008 February 17, Jennifer Finney Boylan, “At the Maine Caucuses, a Tough Nut to Crack”, in The New York Times‎^[3], archived from the original on 26 November 2022:

     The real drama came as these two camps fought for undecideds, who literally found themselves in the middle.

   • 2016, Herb Asher, Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know:

     […] but that is a highly flawed procedure if the undecideds differ in major ways from the decideds.

   • 2025 June 27, Zachary B. Wolf, “Trump is losing support among independent voters. Who are they?”, in CNN‎^[4]:

     “Independents opposed the bill by around a 3-to-1 margin … The KFF and Fox News polls – the ones with the fewest undecideds – showed 7 in 10 independents opposed it,” Blake wrote.

Verb

undecided

1. simple past and past participle of undecide

Anagrams

• deinduced