Definition of "predestination" [pre•des•ti•na•tion]

• The act of predestining or the condition of being predestined. (noun)
• Theology The doctrine that God has foreordained all things, especially that God has elected certain souls to eternal salvation. (noun)
• Theology The divine decree foreordaining all souls to either salvation or damnation. (noun)
• Theology The act of God foreordaining all things gone before and to come. (noun)
• Destiny; fate. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But even when man's supernatural end alone is taken into consideration, the term predestination is not always used by theologians in an unequivocal sense."
• "Some notice, on the other hand, must be devoted to providence and to the particular aspects of providence which we call predestination and reprobation; and with a brief treatment of these which are elsewhere fully treated this article will be concluded."
• ""reprobation", so that the term predestination is reserved for the"