ordain
Americanverb (used with object)
-
ordains,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ordained,
past participle, past
-
ordaining
present participle
-
to invest with ministerial, priestly, or rabbinical functions.
-
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.
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(of God, fate, etc.) to destine or predestine.
Fate had ordained the meeting.
- Synonyms:
- predetermine
verb (used without object)
-
ordains,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ordained,
past participle, past
-
ordaining
present participle
-
to order or command.
Thus do the gods ordain.
-
to select for or appoint to an office.
-
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
-
obsolete to select for an office
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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ordainernoun
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ordainmentnoun
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self-ordainernoun
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reordainverb (used with object)
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superordainverb (used without object)
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ordainableadjective
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unordainableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ordainsimple
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ordainssimple
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have ordainedperfect
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has ordainedperfect
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am ordainingprogressive
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are ordainingprogressive
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is ordainingprogressive
-
have been ordainingperfect progressive
-
has been ordainingperfect progressive
Past
-
ordainedsimple
-
had ordainedperfect
-
was ordainingprogressive
-
were ordainingprogressive
-
had been ordainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ordain
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English ordeinen, from Old French ordener, from Latin ordināre “to order, arrange, appoint”; see ordination
Explanation
To ordain is to make someone a minister, priest, monk, or other member of the clergy. In the Catholic church, for example, a bishop ordains new priests. When you say that people have been ordained, you usually mean that they've been invested with special religion-related powers. In many Buddhist traditions, senior monks ordain new monks and, increasingly, female monks (or nuns) as well. Occasionally, this chiefly religious verb is used to mean "officially declare" or "decree" in a secular matter, as when a court ordains desegregation.
Vocabulary lists containing ordain
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Preamble to the U.S. Constitution (1787)
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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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.
See Examples For:
In 2008, it voted to ordain women as bishops, and many recent meetings have included discussion of same-sex marriages.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2025
“The power to ‘define a crime and ordain its punishment’ is an exclusively legislative function,” the justices wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 11, 2024
But first they would ordain, for a time, as a Buddhist monk and nun.
From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2023
It happened in the wake of Saddleback’s determination as an autonomous local church to ordain female ministers — not as senior pastors of the church, but as associate ministers of the church.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2023
Then Scythe Mandela said, “Ransom Paladini, we have chosen not to ordain you as a scythe. Wherever life leads you, we wish you well. You are dismissed.”
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
For now, the government seems confident that experts can indeed devise a safe, rigorous and consistent system for deciding which patients live and which ones die, as the statute ordains.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2021
Some are even considering leaving the Catholic Church to join other communities, including a movement that ordains women priests.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 7, 2021
It also suggested that future appointments might be influenced by a bishop's views on women clergy, saying that "many dioceses will want to insist that their diocesan bishop should be someone who ordains women".
From Reuters ● May 24, 2013
Her writing has always been hostile to the idea of a primitive, “natural” womanhood that ordains us to behave in certain ways.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2012
I bent above each one, and gently said: ‘Wake from your sleep: no more sweet slumber. Come, we sail: the Lady Kirke so ordains it.’
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
The Chosen Ones Espenson cites are part of a destiny ordained either by their bloodline or some greater lineage.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
The last time the Society ordained new bishops, in 1988, they were immediately excommunicated.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Forer is an ordained rabbi who mentors clerks and others entering the legal field.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
Menjivar-Ayala, who is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian, was ordained as a priest in 2004 and became a bishop in 2023.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
It may be ordained that we have many nights and days to follow, if full of peril; but we must go on, and from no danger shall we shrink.”
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
But ordaining bishops without the Pope's consent is regarded as a serious violation of the unity of the Church.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
In 1988, Pope John Paul II issued a similar appeal to that of Pope Leo but failed to stop the society from ordaining bishops.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
In 1787-91, Americans dramatically strengthened their union by ordaining a new-minted document, the Constitution, which repeatedly referred to American citizenship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2025
And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the ”Constitution” was "to form a more perfect Union."
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2023
The care taken in the selecting and ordaining of the seven deacons argues a religious character for the common meals, which they were to serve.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 8 "Ethiopia" to "Evangelical Association" by Various
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.
