ordain

[awr-deyn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ordain ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to invest with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; confer holy orders upon.

to enact or establish by law, edict, etc.: to ordain a new type of government.

to decree; give orders for: He ordained that the restrictions were to be lifted.

(of God, fate, etc.) to destine or predestine: Fate had ordained the meeting.

verb (used without object)

to order or command: Thus do the gods ordain.

to select for or appoint to an office.

to invest someone with sacerdotal functions.

Origin of ordain

1250–1300; Middle English ordeinen < Old French ordener < Latin ordināre to order, arrange, appoint. See ordination

Related formsor·dain·a·ble, adjectiveor·dain·er, nounor·dain·ment, nounre·or·dain, verb (used with object)self-or·dained, adjectiveself-or·dain·er, nounsu·per·or·dain, verb (used without object)un·or·dain·a·ble, adjectiveun·or·dained, adjective

Synonyms for ordain

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ordain ON THESAURUS.COM

3. order, prescribe, determine. 4. predetermine.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for ordain

appoint, elect, anoint, nominate, bless, consecrate, enact, legislate, decree, set, frock, deal, institute, invest, fix, impose, pronounce, rule, will, commission

Examples from the Web for ordain

Contemporary Examples of ordain

And no religious denomination should be forced to ordain gays or women as priests, right?
Why Progressives Just Woke Up and Killed ENDA
Jay Michaelson
July 9, 2014
The letter also ordered her to “take down www.ordainwomen.org and disassociat[e] yourself from Ordain Women.”
Excommunication With a Smile: Mormon Feminist Kicked Out of the Church
Emily Shire
June 23, 2014
Kate Kelly, the leader of Ordain Women, was officially excommunicated.
Excommunication With a Smile: Mormon Feminist Kicked Out of the Church
Emily Shire
June 23, 2014
The Ordain Women website posted some of Harrison's email to Kelly informing her of her excommunication.
Excommunication With a Smile: Mormon Feminist Kicked Out of the Church
Emily Shire
June 23, 2014
Among other things, Weiss had the beautiful chutzpah to ordain Orthodox women.
The Chief Rabbinate Proves Jews Would Be Better Off without It
Gershom Gorenberg
October 21, 2013

Historical Examples of ordain

And tell me,” added Alcibiades, “do they ordain to do what is good, or what is ill?
The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates
Xenophon
She no longer had any question for that which he chose to ordain.
The Golden Woman
Ridgwell Cullum
You are their judges—pronounce, then, their fate; do you ordain them to live?
Brief Reflections relative to the Emigrant French Clergy (1793)
Frances Burney
My heart submitted to whatever it should please God to ordain.
The Autobiography of Madame Guyon
Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon
They were forbidden to ordain their own priests or practise their own peculiar customs.
History of the Moravian Church
J. E. Hutton

British Dictionary definitions for ordain

ordain

verb (tr)

to consecrate (someone) as a priest; confer holy orders upon

(may take a clause as object) to decree, appoint, or predestine irrevocably

(may take a clause as object) to order, establish, or enact with authority

obsolete to select for an office

Derived Formsordainer, nounordainment, noun

Word Origin for ordain

C13: from Anglo-Norman ordeiner, from Late Latin ordināre, from Latin ordo order

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ordain

late 13c., "to appoint or admit to the ministry of the Church," from stem of Old French ordener "place in order, arrange, prepare; consecrate, designate" (Modern French ordonner) and directly from Latin ordinare "put in order, arrange, dispose, appoint," from ordo (genitive ordinis) "order" (see order (n.)). The notion is "to confer holy orders upon." Meaning "to decree, enact" is from c.1300; sense of "to set (something) that will continue in a certain order" is from early 14c. Related: Ordained; ordaining.