ordain
verb (used with object)
to invest with ministerial, priestly, or rabbinical functions.
had ordained
-
past perfectof ordain.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
The Church of Scotland has had ordained female ministers since the 1960s.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2023
Providence, they said, had ordained that the city should be built here, now.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 19, 2017
In September 1976, Bhumibol allowed Thanom to return to Thailand, even visiting him with Sirikit in Wat Bovornives—the Chakri dynasty’s personal temple—where he had ordained as a monk.
From Time ● Oct. 13, 2016
At the Beatles' audition three months earlier, Martin had ordained their first release: not a Lennon-McCartney composition but How Do You Do It? by "professional" songwriter Mitch Murray.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 4, 2012
The edict, of course, ordains and commands precisely those absurd things which the Government of Great Britain had ordained and commanded since the planting of the colonies.
From Caricature and Other Comic Art in all Times and many Lands. by James Parton
