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

predetermination

1 9.7
The belief that God decided all events before they happen
  • noun
  • /ˌpriːdɪˌtɜːrmɪˈneɪʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : predestinación
  • Many theologians believe in predetermination, arguing that salvation is planned by divine will.

Examples

  • Accepting predetermination frees people of responsibility.

    A Better Place (1997)

  • There is a predetermination to everything, an outcome only apparent to God.

    Blog text (8)

  • THE FATHER: "The Institute for Genetic Predetermination."

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Even God was considered to be bound by predetermination and prophecies.

    Blog text (8)

  • He waited for someone to raise a hand, to ask why those who believed in God the clockmaker didn't believe in predetermination, but no one asked.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • "Karma" meaning "action" or "deed" actually places the emphasis on the individual, rather than some supposed 'destiny', whether ordained by God or due to some supposed mechanistic predetermination written into the laws of nature.

    Blog text (1)

  • The concept of predetermination suggests that every soul's fate is known to the divine before they are born.

  • According to some religious beliefs, predetermination plays a key role in the unfolding of human destiny.

Synonyms

predestination
vspredetermination
  • Formal
4 9.9

The belief that God already decides what happens in people's lives

is about divine will deciding salvation and other events in advance
predestiny
vspredetermination
1 9.9

Belief that all things that happen are decided in advance by fate or a higher power

is specifically theological, stressing divine will rather than vague fate
preordination
vspredetermination
  • Specialized
1 9.9

The belief that God decides in advance what will happen

focuses on divine will making eternal decisions about outcomes and salvation
predestinarianism
vspredetermination
  • Formal
9.9

A belief that God decides everything, especially who will be saved

is the formal theological doctrine stressing prior divine choice about salvation
foreordination
vspredetermination
  • Formal
9.9

The belief that God decides in advance what will happen and who will be saved

emphasizes the same divine prior decision about outcomes and salvation

Antonyms

free will
93 5.8

Ability to choose what you do without being controlled by outside forces

Surface Forms

predetermination singular
predeterminations plural

Morphology

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

Formally, this is a regular noun derived from 'predetermine'.

Etymology

The word predetermination comes from pre- 'before' and determine 'to decide', and in religion it names the idea that God or a higher power has 'decided before' what will happen, which is why it refers to the doctrine that events are set in advance.