preordained 1 of 2

preordained

2 of 2

verb

past tense of preordain

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of preordained
Verb
Just because there is some constraint, doesn’t mean that your path has to be preordained. Nir Bashan, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026 Whatever happened—injury, illness, flood, or drought—felt preordained, part of God’s grand scheme. The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 July 2026 Given the slow start to his pro career, a spot at the World Cup, never mind the starting nod, was far from preordained. Sean Gregory, Time, 10 June 2026 The purchase seems preordained, given that both Gert-Jan and Corinne, like Pascon and Boccara, are lively and curious intellectuals. Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Apr. 2026 What wasn’t preordained is just how beautifully executed the entire venture turns out to be. Greg Evans, Deadline, 7 Apr. 2026 Will this year’s Oscar awards be another fait accompli, a bloated snoozer that’s as boring and seemingly preordained as this year’s Super Bowl? Randy Myers, Mercury News, 9 Mar. 2026 Some might assume that Gooding’s Hollywood career was preordained. Juliana Ukiomogbe, InStyle, 3 Mar. 2026 Sports are inherently fraught with tension, but some seem preordained to it more than others. Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 20 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for preordained
Adjective
  • Identity, purpose and engagement don’t disappear at a predetermined age.
    Meredith Moore, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026
  • On Thursday morning, one of the two landlord representatives, Christina Smyth, resigned, ripping the rent freeze as a predetermined conclusion the board had worked to justify.
    Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News, 25 June 2026
Verb
  • Is the Moon destined to become an interstellar gas station, a resource to be mined and sold?
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 July 2026
  • Dealmakers, as is their wont, view Letterboxd as an operation destined to be plugged into a corporate structure, either as a film marketing apparatus or a data trove to power streaming.
    Dade Hayes, Deadline, 14 July 2026
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
  • 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
  • In World Cup lore, however, his gallantry is doomed to be overshadowed by that of his fellow-goalkeeper from Cabo Verde, Vozinha, who had already produced an uncanny impersonation of a brick wall on the fourth day of the tournament.
    Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 17 July 2026
  • His time with the Tar Heels seemed to be doomed from the start.
    Noah Vinsky July 17, Charlotte Observer, 17 July 2026
Adjective
  • In retrospect, Sumner seemed predestined to become a famous abolitionist lawyer.
    Rob Wolfe, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026
  • Christo and Jeanne-Claude disregarded all threats of legal action, directing Running Fence to complete its predestined voyage into the sea.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • The ceremony was officiated by actor Adam Sandler, who is legally ordained.
    Martha Ross, Mercury News, 7 July 2026
  • The Vatican said on July 2 that priests and lay Catholics who are part of a breakaway right-wing Catholic group that ordained bishops without Pope Leo's approval were in schism with the wider Church and now excommunicated.
    Joshua McElwee, USA Today, 2 July 2026
Adjective
  • Be sure to cover your head and neck with your arms, and crawl under a sturdy table if possible.
    CA Earthquake Bot, Sacbee.com, 14 July 2026
  • Probably the producers felt that introducing seven players all at once needed to go as quickly as possible.
    Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 14 July 2026
Adjective
  • Verbeek also has lost four key defensemen — captain Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, John Carlson and Olen Zellweger — in the past month while adding only journeyman Nick Jensen as a probable replacement.
    Greg Beacham, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026
  • Lowe’s matchup is arguably the best for hitting a home run on Saturday’s MLB slate, given the sample sizes of the probable pitchers.
    Josh Shepardson, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Preordained.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/preordained. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

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