predetermine

See also: prédéterminé, prédétermine, and predeterminé

English

Etymology

From Latin praedēterminō; equivalent to pre- +‎ determine.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹiː.dɪˈtɜː.mɪn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹiːdɪˈtɝ.mɪn/

Verb

predetermine (third-person singular simple present predetermines, present participle predetermining, simple past and past participle predetermined)

1. (transitive) To determine or decide in advance.
   • 1688, Matthew Hale, A Discourse of the Knowledge of God and of Ourselves:

     God's Counsel doth not predetermine the Will to any evil

   • 2022 February 15, David Goldman, “Why your Wordle answers might now be different than your friends’”, in CNN Business‎^[1]:

     That original list of 2,315 solutions was embedded in the game’s code. That means the game was playable offline and could be downloaded onto phones or computers. The solutions to the original Wordle game were predetermined through October 20, 2027. The New York Times (NYT) hasn’t said if it plans to make any more changes or additions to that initial list.

2. (transitive) To doom by previous decree; to foredoom.

Usage notes

• The verb predetermine itself is not as common as the related participial adjective predetermined.

Synonyms

• (determine in advance): foredetermine, preplan, designate

Related terms

• predetermined

Translations

to determine in advance

• Bulgarian: предреша́вам (bg) impf (predrešávam), предреша́ pf (predrešá)
• Old English: foreteohhian
• Polish: przesądzać (pl) impf, przesądzić (pl) pf, wyznaczać (pl) impf, wyznaczyć (pl) pf
• Spanish: predeterminar (es)

Spanish

Verb

predetermine

1. inflection of predeterminar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative