ordain
/ɔɹˈdeɪn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.48 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
verb
To decree.
verb
To admit into the ministry, for example as a priest, bishop, minister or Buddhist monk, or to authorize as a rabbi.
verb
To predestine.
Example Sentences
- "What if the Foot, ordain'd the duſt to tread, / Or Hand, to toil, aſpir'd to be the Head? / What if the Head, the Eye, or Ear repin'd / To ſerve mere Engines to the ruling Mind?"
- "On once more we swung, bumping uneasily along in the antique narrow-gauge coach, with gloomy woods and gathering night outside, shouts and songs (and quacks) inside—this was not at all the sort of train ordained by the logical strategists in Paris—then grinding to a stop at a mysterious halt which was no more than a nameboard in the pinewoods, without even a footpath leading to it, but nevertheless with a solitary passenger stolidly waiting."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: ordeynen, ordiner, ordinare
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɔɹˈdeɪn/
- British English: /ɔːˈdeɪn/