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
"Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified."
From The Ordinance of Covenanting by Cunningham, John
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
From A Theodicy, or, Vindication of the Divine Glory by Bledsoe, Albert Taylor
"Whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of His Son."
From Natural Law in the Spiritual World by Drummond, Henry
Supposing, after all, there is no predestinate engineer!
From Anticipations Of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human life and Thought by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
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
Thus, according to this commentator, those whom God elected, he also predestinated, called, justified, and, finally, glorified.
From A Theodicy, or, Vindication of the Divine Glory by Bledsoe, Albert Taylor
“These men and angels, thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed; and their number is so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.”
From A Theodicy, or, Vindication of the Divine Glory by Bledsoe, Albert Taylor
Every man, woman, and child, born and unborn, is predestinated to die, and them that meet their fate graceful-like are the right sort.
From Ann Boyd by Harben, Will N. (Will Nathaniel)
The chief man of the church was found, upon closer acquaintance, to be the subject of a profound conviction that he was the individual predestinated to superintend our farming interests.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 26, July 1880. 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
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
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.
