1The action of determining an outcome or course of action in advance.
divine perfection and preordination
Example sentencesExamples
Such pre-ordination, if it took place, would be the destruction of all moral freedom; there would be no such thing as human responsibility, and consequently neither good nor evil, neither virtues nor crimes.
Descartes does insist that there is a problem in reconciling human freedom with divine preordination.
As those other yield their service to the will and preordination of God, in the creation of children; so these also serve the will and preordination of God, in conserving their continence and virginity.
Adam, according to this interpretation, has no will of his own and is completely dependent on God's preordination.
Synonyms
fate, destiny, fortune, providence, the stars, god's will, what is written in the stars, one's doom, one's portion, one's lot, one's lot in life, karma, predestination, predetermination, what is to come, the writing on the wall
1.1The fact of being determined in advance.
there was an element of preordination about the verdict
Example sentencesExamples
No longer able to resist the conviction which is hourly impressed on me, I recognize in every contingency the pre-ordination of my fate.
This sense of biological preordination culminates in something close to a credo later in the book.
I've spoken to our legal people and they believed that there was an element of pre-ordination about the verdict.
How can you reconcile that belief with your disbelief in universal preordination?