What does predestining mean?
Predestining means determining beforehand the outcome, course, or fate of a person or event. The word is especially common in religious, philosophical, and literary contexts, where it can describe the idea that a person's destiny has already been fixed by divine will or some other prior power. In secular use, it often suggests that later events were practically unavoidable, as though the sequence of developments had already been established. The related noun predestination is especially prominent in Christian theology, but predestinating is broader and can describe any apparently predetermined outcome. Its strong association with inevitability and finality makes it more dramatic and reflective than ordinary expressions such as deciding or determining in advance.
verbTo determine or decide the fate or destination of someone or something beforehand, especially according to a presumed divine plan. It can also mean to establish in advance the course or outcome of an event.
- To determine or decide the fate, course, or outcome of something beforehand.
- To cause or assign someone to a particular destiny or role in advance.
"The novel explores how much of her life was predestining from the moment she was born."
"Historians debated whether the war was predestining to reshape the country."
"She felt that her training had predestined her for a career in medicine."
Predestinating gives a sense of inevitability: the future is treated not as an open question, but as something already decided.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does predestining come from?
The word comes from predestine, which in turn derives from Latin praedestinare, meaning to establish or ordain beforehand. The Latin root combines prae-, meaning before, with destinare, to appoint, determine, or set apart. Destine, destiny, and destination belong to the same Latin family of words associated with fixing a course or determining an outcome.
Related word forms
How predestining is actually used
The word is formal and literary. It often carries theological or philosophical implications involving divine providence, though it can also be used figuratively for any course of events that seems inevitable or determined in advance.
Easily confused with predestining
Predestinating is the act of deciding or determining something beforehand, whereas predestination is the doctrine or belief that events are destined to occur in advance.