PREDETERMINATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does predetermination mean? 

• PREDETERMINATION (noun)
  The noun PREDETERMINATION has 3 senses:

1. (theology) being determined in advance; especially the doctrine (usually associated with Calvin) that God has foreordained every event throughout eternity (including the final salvation of mankind)

2. a mental determination or resolve in advance; an antecedent intention to do something

3. the act of determining or ordaining in advance what is to take place

  Familiarity information: PREDETERMINATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREDETERMINATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(theology) being determined in advance; especially the doctrine (usually associated with Calvin) that God has foreordained every event throughout eternity (including the final salvation of mankind)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

foreordination; predestination; predetermination; preordination

Hypernyms ("predetermination" is a kind of...):

theological doctrine (the doctrine of a religious group)

Domain category:

divinity; theology (the rational and systematic study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "predetermination"):

election (the predestination of some individuals as objects of divine mercy (especially as conceived by Calvinists))

Derivation:

predetermine (determine beforehand)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A mental determination or resolve in advance; an antecedent intention to do something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

he entered the argument with a predetermination to prove me wrong

Hypernyms ("predetermination" is a kind of...):

conclusion; decision; determination (a position or opinion or judgment reached after consideration)

Derivation:

predetermine (determine beforehand)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of determining or ordaining in advance what is to take place

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("predetermination" is a kind of...):

determination; finding (the act of determining the properties of something, usually by research or calculation)

Derivation:

predetermine (determine beforehand)

 Context examples 

In the evening it was found, according to the predetermination of Mrs. Grant and her sister, that after making up the whist-table there would remain sufficient for a round game, and everybody being as perfectly complying and without a choice as on such occasions they always are, speculation was decided on almost as soon as whist; and Lady Bertram soon found herself in the critical situation of being applied to for her own choice between the games, and being required either to draw a card for whist or not.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)