predestinate

[ verb pri-des-tuh-neyt; adjective pri-des-tuh-nit, -neyt ]
See synonyms for predestinate on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),pre·des·ti·nat·ed, pre·des·ti·nat·ing.
  1. Theology. to foreordain by divine decree or purpose.

  2. Obsolete. to foreordain; predetermine.

adjective
  1. predestined; foreordained.

Origin of predestinate

1
1350–1400; Middle English predestinaten (v.) <Latin praedestinātus, past participle of praedestināre to appoint beforehand. See pre-, destine, -ate1

Other words from predestinate

  • pre·des·ti·nate·ly, adverb

Words Nearby predestinate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use predestinate in a sentence

  • Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified.

  • The adversary chiefly contemplated by the tragedians is Fate, or predestinate misfortune.

  • O how few are there to whom Jupiter hath been so favourable as to predestinate them to plant cabbages!

  • To this end were we born, Dearest and most sweet, and from all time predestinate!

    Beatrice | H. Rider Haggard
  • The criminal always work at one crime—that is the true criminal who seems predestinate to crime, and who will of none other.

    Dracula | Bram Stoker

British Dictionary definitions for predestinate

predestinate

verb(priːˈdɛstɪˌneɪt)
  1. (tr) another word for predestine

adjective(priːˈdɛstɪnɪt, -ˌneɪt)
  1. predestined or foreordained

  2. theol subject to predestination; decided by God from all eternity

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