Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Established or prearranged unalterably: Describes something that has been decided or fixed in advance, especially by a divine power or fate, and cannot be changed.

Usage

• The adjective predestined is used to describe a person, event, or outcome that is believed to be inevitable and determined beforehand.
• It often carries a religious or philosophical connotation, implying a divine plan or fate.
• It is typically used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like , , ).

Examples

• Attributive use:
  • They felt their meeting was not an accident but a predestined event.
  • He spoke with a sense of predestined purpose.
• Predicative use:
  • Their victory seemed predestined from the start of the tournament.
  • She always felt she was predestined for greatness.

Advanced Usage

• "to be predestined to (do) something": This common construction emphasizes the inevitable nature of a future action or state.
  • The hero was predestined to save the kingdom.
  • Some believe souls are predestined to either salvation or damnation.

Variants and Related Words

• Predestine (verb): To decide or determine (something) in advance.
  • Theologians debate whether God predestines individuals.
• Predestination (noun): The doctrine or belief that all events have been willed by God, or the act of predestining.
  • The concept of predestination is central to some religious beliefs.
• Foreordained (adjective): Very similar in meaning to ; decreed or determined beforehand.
• Fated (adjective): Governed by fate; destined. (Less specifically religious than ).

Synonyms

• Inevitable
• Preordained
• Doomed (when implying a negative outcome)
• Inescapable

Antonyms

• Accidental
• Coincidental
• Chance
• Contingent
• Avoidable

Adjective

1. established or prearranged unalterably
   • his place in history was foreordained
   • a sense of predestinate inevitability about it
   • it seemed predestined since the beginning of the world