as in theory
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Recent Examples of predetermination
The presiding judge granted Sweeney's attorney's request to change the charge to second-degree murder or manslaughter as the court lacked sufficient evidence to try him for first-degree murder since predetermination was not established.
—
Rebecca Aizin, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025
He was also accused of failing to respect and comply with the law by denying due process to litigants and lawyers and demonstrating a bias or predetermination for certain cases.
—Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 14 May 2025
From there we’re introduced to the Time Variance Authority where Loki is taken for messing with predetermination—a strict timeline set up by the powerful and mysterious Time Keepers—and introduced to Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson).
—Erik Kain, Forbes, 8 June 2021
Both seasons of The Umbrella Academy raise questions about the nature of time travel (as presented in the series) and the tension between choice and predetermination.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 3 Aug. 2020
There is comfort in subsuming your sense of individuality to a larger sentiment of prescription and predetermination.
—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2019
Yet the movie has a mythic thrust that’s partly due to its almost playful manipulation of time, its silent flash-forwards lending the story a feeling of futility and predetermination.
—Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018
Rebecca Aizin, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025
He was also accused of failing to respect and comply with the law by denying due process to litigants and lawyers and demonstrating a bias or predetermination for certain cases.
—Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 14 May 2025
From there we’re introduced to the Time Variance Authority where Loki is taken for messing with predetermination—a strict timeline set up by the powerful and mysterious Time Keepers—and introduced to Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson).
—Erik Kain, Forbes, 8 June 2021
Both seasons of The Umbrella Academy raise questions about the nature of time travel (as presented in the series) and the tension between choice and predetermination.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 3 Aug. 2020
There is comfort in subsuming your sense of individuality to a larger sentiment of prescription and predetermination.
—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2019
Yet the movie has a mythic thrust that’s partly due to its almost playful manipulation of time, its silent flash-forwards lending the story a feeling of futility and predetermination.
—Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predetermination
Noun
-
Even a middle school student would perceive a stark difference between someone who voices a bogus theory and someone who acts on it.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
31 May 2026
-
In theory, that should be a straightforward fix.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
31 May 2026
Noun
-
The thing is, this presumption appears to be faltering.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
-
Hathaway opened up about the presumptions people have made about her to Elle.—
Charles Trepany,
USA Today,
29 May 2026
Noun
-
Over time, this weakens their ability to challenge assumptions, spot anomalies, or even recognize when something is wrong.—
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
-
When trust becomes local and familiar, someone needs to be tracking where confidence is falling apart, where geopolitical shifts are creating new exposure, and where old assumptions about what a brand can say or do no longer apply.—
Jonathan Jordan,
Fortune,
27 May 2026
Noun
-
One leading hypothesis suggests the polar ice was delivered during a relatively recent impact by a water-rich comet or asteroid — possibly in scale and age to the one that carved Hokusai crater, a prominent 60-mile-wide (97-kilometer-wide) crater in Mercury's northern hemisphere.—
Sharmila Kuthunur,
Space.com,
28 May 2026
-
There are three primary hypotheses for how birds might sense Earth’s geomagnetic field.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
For now, however, that’s all conjecture.—
Gary Phillips,
New York Daily News,
26 May 2026
-
Finding a single counterexample can be powerful and destroy an entire conjecture, but the lack of finding a counterexample doesn’t prove that the conjecture must be right.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2026
Noun
-
So unbound by realism, speculation became my portal.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 May 2026
-
All of this comes after speculation about what prenup Swift and her soon-to-be-husband, Travis Kelce, could sign has started swirling.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
That investment thesis depends on proximity.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
29 May 2026
-
My thesis this week for a bearish-to-bullish reversal rested on the idea that ZS had been unfairly punished and that the 50-day moving average was turning positive.—
Michael Khouw,
CNBC,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
What becomes alarmingly evident through the key assumptions check is how many of the current responses expect a quick resolution of the conflict — a supposition that is unsound, or at least unsupported.—
Judd Devermont,
semafor.com,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Zlotnikov wrote that the condition was likely caused by a mutation that had occurred very early in embryonic development, a supposition that was confirmed decades later by genetic analysis.—
Jerome Groopman,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Predetermination.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predetermination. Accessed 3 Jun. 2026.
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