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
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The exact reason why is debated by scientists, but theories include a huge collision in early Martian history, or unstable mantle plumes.—
Tom Brown,
Space.com,
25 May 2026
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Because orbital data centers, in theory, require huge amounts of infrastructure like giant solar arrays, to be launched into space, the V3’s upgraded carrying capacity is essential.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
24 May 2026
Noun
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The lawsuit comes after the state's Supreme Court ruled last week that Hill’s actions triggered the legal presumption that the jury had been improperly influenced and that prosecutors failed to prove the verdict was unaffected.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
18 May 2026
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Who doubts the law would be enforced in a ham-handed way, with people being denied the presumption of innocence?—
U T Editorial Board,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
15 May 2026
Noun
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The Maldives Coast Guard began an over and underwater search for the four remaining divers, but once Benedetti’s body was found, the authorities began working under the assumption that the four remaining divers were inside the cave.—
Lex Harvey,
CNN Money,
20 May 2026
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But that assumption can present risks to employers.—
William Phillips,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2026
Noun
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The people who bombed the interviews were the ones who developed a hypothesis and held it to the last breath because developing strategy is inherently fuzzy at first.—
Lynn Comp,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
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Among the most important undecidable statements is the continuum hypothesis (CH), proved to be undecidable in the Gödelian sense by Paul Cohen in 1963.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
18 May 2026
Noun
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Specifically, OpenAI said in an announcement published on its website that its models disproved a central conjecture in an area of discrete geometry tied to Paul Erdős’s planar unit distance problem, a famously stubborn question first posed in 1946.—
Ron Schmelzer,
Forbes.com,
22 May 2026
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The recent exit of Karren Brady after 16 years as West Ham’s vice chair has invited conjecture over the club’s long-term ownership plans but, for now, an increasingly unpopular regime led by Sullivan has shown little indication that another era will come to an end with relegation.—
Philip Buckingham,
New York Times,
21 May 2026
Noun
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And that’s a matter of speculation.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
15 May 2026
-
Your company went through major layoffs in 2024 and sold off about a third of its TV station portfolio for $171 million last year, sparking speculation about a cash crunch for your businesses with the decline of linear TV.—
Erik Hayden,
HollywoodReporter,
14 May 2026
Noun
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That thesis is plausible, but the shift has not yet happened at scale.—
Paulo Carvão,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2026
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All the more curious then that the majority of students referenced war zones or used their senior theses to protest governmental suppression.—
Ari Stark,
Footwear News,
19 May 2026
Noun
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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
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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 26 May. 2026.
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