decide
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /dɪˈsaɪd/
Verb

decide (decides, present participle deciding; 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.
    We must decide our next move.
    Her last-minute goal decided the game.
    • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:
      The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; / Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
  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.
    • Bible, 1 Kings xx. 40
      So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
  3. (transitive) to cause someone to come to a decision
    • 1920, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Three Gables" (Norton edition, 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. (obsolete) to cut off; to separate
    • Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.
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