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🌀 Inevitable fate 🙏 God's decision 📝 Advance intention
predetermination

predetermination

1 7.8
A decision made in advance that makes events seem certain to happen
  • noun
  • /ˌpriːdɪˌtɜːrmɪˈneɪʃən/
translation icon : predeterminación
  • The scientist wrote about the concept of predetermination, arguing that many events seem destined to occur.

And there are things about our lives that are set up ahead of time, predetermination.

Examples

  • Anything may happen; there's no predetermination," the Russian leader added.

    Blog text (30)

  • Hence, the type of international system, including the American response, that will emerge is a matter of national choice based on a clash of ideas rather than predetermination.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The second issue is making a time travel movie about self-sacrifice, and free will/predetermination feels well-trod.

    Blog text (21)

  • The idea of predetermination suggests that our choices may already be decided before we make them.

  • Philosophers often debate the implications of predetermination on free will and personal responsibility.

Synonyms

planning
vspredetermination
507 2.2

To think ahead and decide what to do to prepare for something

centres on inevitability or destiny rather than flexible future arrangements
premeditation
vspredetermination
  • Formal
21 7.9

Planning to do something, especially a crime, before you do it

focuses on inevitability or destiny rather than deliberate criminal intent
forethought
vspredetermination
10 5.5

Careful planning for the future to avoid problems

views events as fixed or destined rather than thought-out caution
preplanning
vspredetermination
1 3.5

Making things ready before an event or activity

emphasizes fixed or destined decisions rather than general advance preparations
prearrangement
vspredetermination
1 4.4

A plan made before an event to organize things

focuses on fixedness or destiny rather than a routine prior plan
preordination
vspredetermination
  • Specialized
1 9.9

The belief that God decides in advance what will happen

treats decisions as fixed or destined rather than simply planned
presetting
vspredetermination
5.2

To set something ahead of time so it works when needed

frames decisions as inevitable or destined rather than simple preconfigured values

Antonyms

spontaneity
31 6.2

Acting on a sudden feeling without planning or thought

improvisation
29 5.6

An act of making or doing something quickly without a plan to solve a problem

How Planned

predetermination
1 7.8
plan
∞ 1.0
arrangement
135 2.7
chance
3.7

Surface Forms

predetermination singular
predeterminations plural

Morphology

predetermination = predetermine (transparent) = pre + determin + ation

This is a standard noun formation from the verb 'predetermine' meaning the act or process of doing so.

Etymology

The word predetermination starts with pre- meaning 'before' and the part determine meaning 'to decide' or 'set limits', a root you see in term and terminal. So predetermination can mean that something was 'decided before' and therefore feels inevitable.