DECIDE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does decide mean? 

• DECIDE (verb)
  The verb DECIDE has 4 senses:

1. reach, make, or come to a decision about something

2. bring to an end; settle conclusively

3. cause to decide

4. influence or determine

  Familiarity information: DECIDE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DECIDE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they decide    ... he / she / it decides   
Past simple: decided   
Past participle: decided   
-ing form: deciding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reach, make, or come to a decision about something

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

decide; determine; make up one's mind

Context example:

We finally decided after lengthy deliberations

"Decide" entails doing...:

debate; deliberate (discuss the pros and cons of an issue)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "decide"):

measure; measure out; mensurate (determine the measurements of something or somebody, take measurements of)

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

will (determine by choice)

seal (decide irrevocably)

purpose; resolve (reach a decision)

decree; rule (decide with authority)

orient; orientate (determine one's position with reference to another point)

adjudicate; judge; try (put on trial or hear a case and sit as the judge at the trial of)

govern; order; regularise; regularize; regulate (bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s whether INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They decide to move

Derivation:

deciding (the cognitive process of reaching a decision)

decision (the act of making up your mind about something)

decisive (characterized by decision and firmness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bring to an end; settle conclusively

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

adjudicate; decide; resolve; settle

Context example:

The father adjudicated when the sons were quarreling over their inheritance

Hypernyms (to "decide" is one way to...):

end; terminate (bring to an end or halt)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "decide"):

judge (determine the result of (a competition))

adjust (decide how much is to be paid on an insurance claim)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

deciding (the cognitive process of reaching a decision)

decisive (characterized by decision and firmness)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to decide

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

This new development finally decided me!

Hypernyms (to "decide" is one way to...):

cause; get; have; induce; make; stimulate (cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner)

Cause:

decide; determine; make up one's mind (reach, make, or come to a decision about something)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 4

Meaning:

Influence or determine

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

The vote in New Hampshire often decides the outcome of the Presidential election

Hypernyms (to "decide" is one way to...):

determine; influence; mold; regulate; shape (shape or influence; give direction to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

decisive (determining or having the power to determine an outcome)

 Context examples 

"I told you so," said Aunt March, with a decided nod to Aunt Carrol.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The porcupine had at last decided that its enemy had gone away.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

If you decided on a dramatic career shift, that may have marked the start of your new direction.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

We had not, said Miss Clarissa, been in the habit of frequent association with our brother Francis; but there was no decided division or disunion between us.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Almost every day I asked Mrs. Fairfax if she had yet heard anything decided: her answer was always in the negative.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Dorothy went to work meekly, with her mind made up to work as hard as she could; for she was glad the Wicked Witch had decided not to kill her.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Sometimes the quarrel between two princes is to decide which of them shall dispossess a third of his dominions, where neither of them pretend to any right.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

They had been unable to decide whether they would keep together and have the things in common, or whether they would separate.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Even if they could send one, our fate will in all human probability be decided long before it could arrive in South America.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)