as in doomed
to determine the fate of in advance
my wife and I are such soulmates, I'm convinced that our marriage was preordained
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as in destined
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Recent Examples of preordained
John Hollinger, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
The first thing to emphasize is that nothing is preordained about market cycles — this one may well never get as wild, lucrative and dangerous as the one 25+ years ago.
—Michael Santoli, CNBC, 6 Oct. 2025
But although the months between September 2024 and August 2025 may have been light on the kind of superstar releases that seem preordained for Grammy sweeps, plenty of other contenders have emerged — and in such circumstances, obvious choices are in short supply.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 1 Oct. 2025
Our climate is not preordained to remain hospitable forever.
—Gregory Barber, Quanta Magazine, 15 Sep. 2025
The last of the proxy defeats was preordained.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Sep. 2025
On many of those Friday nights, their ace pitcher, Whitey Ford, faced our ace, Billy Pierce, but an evening that began with high hopes usually ended in painful reality, like it was preordained by the baseball gods.
—Andy Shaw, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
But the agentic future is not preordained.
—Marc Benioff, Time, 28 Aug. 2025
The idea of a hard partition between two ethno-religious states was not preordained.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
No team in history has won between 38 and 40 games for four straight seasons, yet for the Bulls, this feels almost preordained.
—John Hollinger, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
The first thing to emphasize is that nothing is preordained about market cycles — this one may well never get as wild, lucrative and dangerous as the one 25+ years ago.
—Michael Santoli, CNBC, 6 Oct. 2025
But although the months between September 2024 and August 2025 may have been light on the kind of superstar releases that seem preordained for Grammy sweeps, plenty of other contenders have emerged — and in such circumstances, obvious choices are in short supply.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 1 Oct. 2025
Our climate is not preordained to remain hospitable forever.
—Gregory Barber, Quanta Magazine, 15 Sep. 2025
The last of the proxy defeats was preordained.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 2 Sep. 2025
On many of those Friday nights, their ace pitcher, Whitey Ford, faced our ace, Billy Pierce, but an evening that began with high hopes usually ended in painful reality, like it was preordained by the baseball gods.
—Andy Shaw, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
But the agentic future is not preordained.
—Marc Benioff, Time, 28 Aug. 2025
The idea of a hard partition between two ethno-religious states was not preordained.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for preordained
Verb
-
So is it destined for the big screen?—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
11 Oct. 2025
-
Just hours after news of the ceasefire broke, it was reported that Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet, had apprehended a shipment of advanced Iranian weaponry destined for militants in the West Bank.—
Ilan Berman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
That feeling of walking into a room and having people turn to you with a predetermined respect.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
Entertainment Weekly,
29 Sep. 2025
-
Uber also penalizes its drivers who cancel trips and can deactivate their accounts if cancellation frequency reaches a predetermined threshold, the complaint states.—
Stuart Dyos,
Nashville Tennessean,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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But the classic dragon—reptilian, treasure-hoarding, and doomed to be slain—feels distinctly Indo-European.—
Manvir Singh,
New Yorker,
13 Oct. 2025
-
Hoover ended up throwing for 376 yards and added two more touchdown passes, but for the second time in Big 12 play, he was outplayed by the opposing quarterback and had multiple game-changing turnovers that doomed the Horned Frogs down the stretch.—
Steven Johnson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
What unfolds next is both foreordained and unpredictable: a performance superficially the same as any other rendition of the same score, but also profoundly different — wondrous, perhaps, or merely rote.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
16 Oct. 2024
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The film is a tragedy in which everything comes out right: Coppola builds his protagonist’s absurd overreach into a foreordained happy ending, and the movie itself is a happy outcome from the very start.—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker,
26 Sep. 2024
Verb
-
For instance, the network included connections between cardinals who worked together in Vatican departments, between those who ordained, or were ordained by, another and between those who were friends.—
Jack Murtagh,
Scientific American,
11 Oct. 2025
-
Mullally was ordained in 2001 and left the government three years later for church roles at Salisbury Cathedral and then becoming only the fourth woman bishop in the Church of England as the Suffragan Bishop of Crediton in the Diocese of Exeter.—
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Darya Minovi, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, pointed to that pending change as a possible motivation for not publishing the PFNA assessment.—
Sharon Lerner,
ProPublica,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Now, enduring peace in the region is possible.—
Yamiche Alcindor,
NBC news,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer is listed as probable for the Sooners’ rivalry game against Texas, according to the SEC availability report released Thursday evening.—
Sam Khan Jr,
New York Times,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Defensive end Paul Oyewale was also on the report, but he was listed as probable to play.—
Steven Johnson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
9 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Preordained.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/preordained. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.
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