decide
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈsaɪd/
rhymes: -aɪd
Forms: form: decides
form: deciding
form: decided
form: decided
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: decide
form: decide
form: decided
form: decide
form: decidest
form: decided
form: decidedst
form: decides
form: decideth
form: decided
form: decide
form: decided
form: decide
form: decided
form: decide
form: -
form: deciding
form: decided
Etymology: From Middle English deciden, from Old French decider, from Latin dēcīdere, infinitive of dēcīdō (“cut off, decide”), from dē (“down from”) + caedō (“cut”).
Senses: examples: text: The election will be decided on foreign policies.
text: It was decided to meet here at midnight.
text: Her last-minute goal decided the game.
text: The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; / Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
text: I did not see the program, but Mrs. Nixon told me that you were great on the Donahue Show.
As you can imagine, she is an expert on politics and she predicts that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!
ref: 1987 December 21, Richard Nixon, Letters to Trump, Winning Team Publishing, published 2023, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 10:
glosses: To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.
examples: text: You must decide between good and evil.
text: I have decided that it is healthier to walk to work.
text: So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 20:40:
glosses: To make a judgment, especially after deliberation.
examples: text: Your admonition decided me against my intended course of action.
text: It decides me to look into the matter, for if it is worth anyone's while to take so much trouble, there must be something in it.
ref: 1920, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Three Gables, Norton, published 2005, page 1537:
glosses: To cause someone to come to a decision.
examples: text: No Turing Machine can decide the halting problem.
text: First, the hierarchy theorems tell us that a Turing machine can decide more languages in EXPSPACE than it can in PSPACE.
ref: 1997, Michael Sipser, Introduction to the Theory of Computation, Boston, M.A.: PWS Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 313:
topics: computing
computing-theory
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Of a Turing machine: to return a correct answer (for some yes-or-no problem) on every possible input.
examples: text: Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.
ref: 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To cut off; to separate.
Synonyms: make up one's mind
choose
determine
pick
elect
Derived terms: decidability
decidable
decidement
decide on
decide upon
decidophobia
misdecide
predecide
redecide
undecide
Related terms: decider
decision
decisive