Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

decide

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: décide and décidé

English

Etymology

From Middle English deciden, from Old French decider, from Latin dēcīdere, infinitive of dēcīdō (“cut off, decide”), from dē (“down from”) + caedō (“cut”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dɪˈsaɪd/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪd

Verb

decide (third-person singular simple present decides, present participle deciding, simple past and past participle decided)

  1. (ambitransitive) To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.
    The election will be decided on foreign policies.
    It was decided to meet here at midnight.
    Her last-minute goal decided the game.
    • 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]:
      The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; / Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
    • 1987 December 21, Richard Nixon, Letters to Trump, Winning Team Publishing, published 2023, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 10:
      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!
  2. (intransitive) To make a judgment, especially after deliberation.
    You must decide between good and evil.
    I have decided that it is healthier to walk to work.
  3. (transitive) To cause someone to come to a decision.
    Your admonition decided me against my intended course of action.
    • 1920, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Three Gables, Norton, published 2005, page 1537:
      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.
  4. (computing theory) Of a Turing machine: to return a correct answer (for some yes-or-no problem) on every possible input.
    No Turing Machine can decide the halting problem.
    • 1997, Michael Sipser, Introduction to the Theory of Computation, Boston, M.A.: PWS Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 313:
      First, the hierarchy theorems tell us that a Turing machine can decide more languages in EXPSPACE than it can in PSPACE.
  5. (obsolete) To cut off; to separate.
    • 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC:
      Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.

Usage notes

Conjugation

More information infinitive, present tense ...

† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Anagrams

Remove ads

Asturian

Verb

decide

  1. third-person singular present indicative of decidir

Esperanto

Etymology

From decidi +‎ -e.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /deˈt͡side/
  • Rhymes: -ide
  • Hyphenation: de‧ci‧de

Adverb

decide

  1. decisively
  2. decidedly

Galician

Verb

decide

  1. inflection of decidir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Interlingua

Verb

decide

  1. present of decider
  2. imperative of decider

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /deˈt͡ʃi.de/
  • Rhymes: -ide
  • Hyphenation: de‧cì‧de

Verb

decide

  1. third-person singular present indicative of decidere

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

dēcīde

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of dēcīdō

Middle English

Verb

decide

  1. alternative form of deciden

Portuguese

Verb

decide

  1. inflection of decidir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French décider, from Latin dēcidō.

Pronunciation

Verb

a decide (third-person singular present decide, past participle decis, third-person subjunctive decidă) 3rd conjugation

  1. to decide
    Synonym: hotărî

Conjugation

    conjugation of decide (third conjugation, past participle in -s)
More information infinitive, gerund ...
Remove ads

Spanish

Pronunciation

Verb

decide

  1. inflection of decidir:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads