foreordain
Americanverb (used with object)
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to ordain or appoint beforehand.
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to predestine; predetermine.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of foreordain
First recorded in 1400–50, foreordain is from the late Middle English word forordeinen. See fore-, ordain
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.
How funny it would be if his biggest hit song ever was the one he didn’t foreordain at all?
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2018
But it does not foreordain that they will be incapable of finding common ground, or that the current period of intense partisanship will go on forever.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 25, 2018
To others, it celebrated the ability of Mr. Burden, whose very surname seemed to foreordain a life of professional dolor, to inscribe himself indelibly into his own work, as artists from J.S.
From New York Times ● May 11, 2015
That a ruler may secretly will, purpose, decree, foreordain, that his, subjects shall act in a certain way.
From The Calvinistic Doctrine of Predestination Examined and Refuted by Hodgson, F. (Francis)
The Confession of Faith gives the following deliverance on the subject—“God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably foreordain whatsoever comes to pass.”
From The Doctrines of Predestination, Reprobation, and Election by Wallace, Robert
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.
