predestinate
Americanverb (used with object)
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Theology. to foreordain by divine decree or purpose.
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Obsolete. to foreordain; predetermine.
adjective
verb
adjective
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predestined or foreordained
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theol subject to predestination; decided by God from all eternity
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of predestinate
1350–1400; Middle English predestinaten (v.) < Latin praedestinātus, past participle of praedestināre to appoint beforehand. See pre-, destine, -ate 1
Explanation
Something that's predestinate has been planned or arranged already — there's no way to change its outcome. Some religious observers believe that life is predestinate, willed by God. If you believe that people have free will, the ability to make decisions that change the course of their lives, then you don't agree that everything is predestinate. If, however, you think God or fate or nature has already determined what will happen to you, you believe in a predestinate life. This adjective comes from the Old French prédestiner, "ordain of God," from the Latin root praedestinare, "determine beforehand."
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:
I have recently learned that I am But a creature that moves In predestinate grooves.
From Time Magazine Archive
The hour draws nigh Of life or death predestinate.
From Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] A Romance of Russian Life in Verse by Spalding, Henry
This idea, moreover, accords with the Scriptures:—“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
From Calvinistic Controversy Embracing a Sermon on Predestination and Election and Several Numbers, Formally Published in the Christian Advocate and Journal. by Fisk, Wilbur
Long ere I made thee, I the predestinate, Before thou wert born I thee endued with grace.
From "Everyman," with other interludes, including eight miracle plays by Rhys, Ernest
Defining the church as the body of the predestinate, and starting a campaign against indulgences, Huss soon fell under the ban of his superiors.
From The Age of the Reformation by Smith, Preserved
And right now no one seems to posses the same sense of predestinated greatness that accompanied Warne, Murali and Tendulkar.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 5, 2011
God predestinated that we should be like him.
From The Gospel Day Or, the Light of Christianity by Orr, Charles Ebert
For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son; that he might be the firstborn amongst many brethren.
From Grace, Actual and Habitual A Dogmatic Treatise by Preuss, Arthur
VIII, 29: “Whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son.”
From Grace, Actual and Habitual A Dogmatic Treatise by Preuss, Arthur
Those lovers of God thus predestinated are invited to heavenly bliss, and will be ultimately justified before the world, and glorified.
From The Doctrines of Predestination, Reprobation, and Election by Wallace, Robert
His existence appears as fashioned in essence and end by predestinating power, and the Eternal "takes the responsibility."
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 95, September 1865 by Various
Within it by Thy predestinating knowledge and might, He had set forth all that is essential and obligatory for the upraising of Thy Cause in this world below.
From Bahíyyih Khánum by Baha'i World Centre
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.
