ordain

English

Etymology

From Middle English ordeynen, from Old French ordiner, from Latin ordinare (“to order”), from ordo (“order”). Doublet of ordinate.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔɹˈdeɪn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈdeɪn/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn
• Hyphenation: or‧dain

Verb

ordain (third-person singular simple present ordains, present participle ordaining, simple past and past participle ordained)

1. To prearrange unalterably.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle I, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 15, lines 248–251:

     What if the Foot, ordain'd the duſt to tread, / Or Hand, to toil, aſpir'd to be the Head? / What if the Head, the Eye, or Ear repin'd / To ſerve mere Engines to the ruling Mind?

2. To decree.
   • 1961 November, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 668:

     On once more we swung, bumping uneasily along in the antique narrow-gauge coach, with gloomy woods and gathering night outside, shouts and songs (and quacks) inside—this was not at all the sort of train ordained by the logical strategists in Paris—then grinding to a stop at a mysterious halt which was no more than a nameboard in the pinewoods, without even a footpath leading to it, but nevertheless with a solitary passenger stolidly waiting.

3. (religion) To admit into the ministry, for example as a priest, bishop, minister or Buddhist monk, or to authorize as a rabbi.
4. To predestine.

Synonyms

• foresay

Derived terms

• ordainment
• preordain

Related terms

• ordain
• order
• ordinal
• ordinance, ordnance
• ordinary
• ordinate
• ordination
• ordo

 

With prefixes

• coordinate, coordination
• foreordination
• insubordination
• postordination
• preordination
• reordination
• subordinate, subordination
• subordination
• superordination

 

Translations

to prearrange unalterably

• Bulgarian: предписвам (bg) (predpisvam)
• Dutch: vaststellen (nl)
• German: festlegen (de)
• Latin: scisco
• Old English: sċrīfan

admit into the ministry of a religion

• Bulgarian: ръкополагам (bg) (rǎkopolagam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 按立 (zh) (ànlì)

• Danish: ordinere
• German: weihen (de)
• Maori: whakawahi, whakapiriti, whakaminita
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ordinere

  Nynorsk: ordinere

• Russian: рукополагать (ru) impf (rukopolagatʹ), рукоположить (ru) pf (rukopoložitʹ)
• Spanish: ordenar (es)
• Swedish: prästviga (sv) (of priests only), ordinera (sv) (of priests and bishops only), viga till (followed by the office in question)
• Ukrainian: висвя́чувати impf (vysvjáčuvaty), ви́святити pf (výsvjatyty)

See also

• ordination

Further reading

• “ordain”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ordain”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ordain”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Ardoin, Dorian, NORAID, Orinda, Rodina, donair, draino, inroad, radion, ranoid