Word.ws English Dictionary

predestinate

/pɹiːˈdɛstɪneɪt/

predestinate verb: to predestine.

Verb

predestinate (third-person singular simple present predestinates, present participle predestinating, simple past and past participle predestinated)

  1. To predestine.
    • Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 8:29
    • Boys possessing any mental or moral force to give them a tendency, then predestinate their careers; or, if under supervision, take the impress that is given them: not often to cast it off, and seldom to cast it off altogether.1859, George Meredith, chapter 15, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC

Adjective

IPA/pɹiːˈdɛstɪnət/

predestinate (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Predestined, preordained.
    • God keep your ladyship still in that mind; so some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • It’s said there’s one predestinate / To be his mortal foe; / But that man is yet unborn, / And long may it be so.1890, Joseph Jacobs, “The Red Ettin”, in English Fairy Tales, page 132

Forms of predestinate

third-person singular presentpredestinates
present participlepredestinating
past participlepredestinated
pastpredestinated

Origin of predestinate

From Middle English predestinate, from Latin praedestinātus, past participle of praedestināre. By surface analysis, pre- + destinate.

Words formed from predestinate

Questions about predestinate

What does predestinate mean?
Predestinate means to predestine.
What part of speech is predestinate?
Predestinate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce predestinate?
Predestinate is pronounced /pɹiːˈdɛstɪneɪt/.
What is the past tense of predestinate?
The past tense of predestinate is predestinated.

Words near predestinate in the dictionary

  1. predestinarian
  2. predestinarianism
  3. predestinarianisms
  4. predestinarians
  5. predestinary
  6. predestinate
  7. predestinated
  8. predestinately
  9. predestinates
  10. predestinating
  11. predestination

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: predestinate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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