ordain
Americanverb (used with object)
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to invest with ministerial, priestly, or rabbinical functions.
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to enact or establish by law, edict, etc..
to ordain a new type of government.
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to decree; give orders for.
He ordained that the restrictions were to be lifted.
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(of God, fate, etc.) to destine or predestine.
Fate had ordained the meeting.
- Synonyms:
- predetermine
verb (used without object)
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to order or command.
Thus do the gods ordain.
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to select for or appoint to an office.
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to invest someone with sacerdotal functions.
verb
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to consecrate (someone) as a priest; confer holy orders upon
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(may take a clause as object) to decree, appoint, or predestine irrevocably
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(may take a clause as object) to order, establish, or enact with authority
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obsolete to select for an office
Other Word Forms
- ordainable adjective
- ordainer noun
- ordainment noun
- reordain verb (used with object)
- self-ordainer noun
- superordain verb (used without object)
- unordainable adjective
Etymology
Origin of ordain
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English ordeinen, from Old French ordener, from Latin ordināre “to order, arrange, appoint”; ordination
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.
A gifted public speaker, the ordained minister was known for fiery rhetoric, often advocating for the interests of working people, especially minorities.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, a prominent civil rights activist, ordained minister and the first Black American to receive significant traction in a campaign for president, died Tuesday at 84.
From Salon
If hormones and pills can tilt who feels like "The One", then it becomes harder to argue there is a single, pre‑ordained match – which is where the mathematicians come in.
From BBC
One of the protesters who was arrested for disrupting the service at Cities Church is herself an ordained minister.
From Salon
He studied history and theology at Cambridge and then headed to theological college with the aim of being ordained as a clergyman before he - and the church - had second thoughts.
From BBC
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.
