predetermine
Americanverb (used with object)
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to settle or decide in advance.
He had predetermined his answer to the offer.
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to ordain in advance; predestine.
She believed that God had predetermined her sorrow.
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to direct or impel; influence strongly.
His sympathy for poor people predetermined his choice of a career.
verb
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to determine beforehand
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to influence or incline towards an opinion beforehand; bias
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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predeterminesimple
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predeterminessimple
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have predeterminedperfect
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has predeterminedperfect
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am predeterminingprogressive
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are predeterminingprogressive
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is predeterminingprogressive
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have been predeterminingperfect progressive
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has been predeterminingperfect progressive
Past
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predeterminedsimple
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had predeterminedperfect
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was predeterminingprogressive
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were predeterminingprogressive
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had been predeterminingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of predetermine
Explanation
The verb predetermine means "determine in advance," like when you predetermine how much money you will spend on your friend's birthday present to make shopping easier. Predetermine comes from the Latin word praedeterminare, from prae, meaning “beforehand,” and determinare, meaning “limit, settle.” When you predetermine things, such as who will bring the food and music to a party, things run more smoothly than if you left it to chance. Another meaning of the word isn't so positive — if the organizers of a contest predetermine that their friend will win, this isn't fair to the other participants.
Vocabulary lists containing predetermine
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: pre-
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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.
