destined
Americanadjective
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bound for a certain destination.
a freighter destined for Manila.
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ordained, appointed, or predetermined to be or do something.
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liable, planning, or intending to be or do something.
adjective
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foreordained or certain; meant
he is destined to be famous
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(usually foll by for) heading (towards a specific destination); directed
a letter destined for Europe
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of destined
Explanation
Someone who's destined is fated or meant to do something. If your mom says you're destined for a life on the stage, she means that it's certain you'll be an actor one day. Being destined for something can be great luck — if, for example, you're destined to be a millionaire. It can also mean something closer to "doomed," as you might be if you're destined to a string of bad luck after breaking a mirror and seeing a black cat run past at the exact same moment. The Old French root is destinée, "purpose, intent, fate, or destiny."
Vocabulary lists containing destined
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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The Tale of Despereaux
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Purple Hibiscus
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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.
One population expresses a gene called Otx2 and is destined to form the forebrain and midbrain.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
From there, oil is transferred onto other vessels destined for global markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
You wanted to see the will and want-to of a team that went 11-6 each of the past two seasons and could be destined, at last, for a push in the playoffs?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
One later recalled, “Nothing we newsmen ate that day led us to foresee that soybeans were destined a few years later to become an ingredient in many popular food products, some of them delicious.”
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
For that city, and the name it was destined to carry, symbolized the conspiracy that threatened, so Jefferson and his followers thought, all that Virginia stood for.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
