predestinate
Americanverb (used with object)
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Theology. to foreordain by divine decree or purpose.
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Obsolete. to foreordain; predetermine.
adjective
verb
adjective
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predestined or foreordained
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theol subject to predestination; decided by God from all eternity
Other Word Forms
- predestinately adverb
Etymology
Origin of predestinate
1350–1400; Middle English predestinaten (v.) < Latin praedestinātus, past participle of praedestināre to appoint beforehand. See pre-, destine, -ate 1
Explanation
Something that's predestinate has been planned or arranged already — there's no way to change its outcome. Some religious observers believe that life is predestinate, willed by God. If you believe that people have free will, the ability to make decisions that change the course of their lives, then you don't agree that everything is predestinate. If, however, you think God or fate or nature has already determined what will happen to you, you believe in a predestinate life. This adjective comes from the Old French prédestiner, "ordain of God," from the Latin root praedestinare, "determine beforehand."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I have recently learned that I am But a creature that moves In predestinate grooves.
From Time Magazine Archive
Defining the church as the body of the predestinate, and starting a campaign against indulgences, Huss soon fell under the ban of his superiors.
From The Age of the Reformation by Smith, Preserved
The hour draws nigh Of life or death predestinate.
From Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] A Romance of Russian Life in Verse by Spalding, Henry
Supposing, after all, there is no predestinate engineer!
From Anticipations Of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human life and Thought by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
"It's said there's ane predestinate To be his mortal foe, But that man is yet unborn, And lang may it be so."
From The Scottish Fairy Book by Grierson, Elizabeth Wilson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
