decide
//dɪˈsaɪd//
Forms
- present (v1)
- decide
- past (v2)
- decided
- past participle (v3)
- decided
- present participle
- deciding
- 3rd person singular
- decides
Definitions
1.To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.
- Her last-minute goal decided the game.
- It was decided to meet here at midnight.
- The election will be decided on foreign policies.
2.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.
- Since this cowl released a flutter of moths and parted at the shoulder as he was getting into it, he decided that it must be his own.
3.To cause someone to come to a decision.
- Your admonition decided me against my intended course of action.
- 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.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.
- First, the hierarchy theorems tell us that a Turing machine can decide more languages in EXPSPACE than it can in PSPACE.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #468
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English deciden
From Old French decider
From Latin dēcīdere, infinitive of dēcīdō (“cut off, decide”)
From dē (“down from”) + caedō (“cut”).