Ordain

Quick meaning: Ordain is a verb meaning To prearrange unalterably.

Meaning

To prearrange unalterably.

More Meanings

1. To decree.
2. (religion) To admit into the ministry, for example as a priest, bishop, minister or Buddhist monk, or to authorize as a rabbi.
3. 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.

Word Forms

• ordains
• ordaining
• ordained

Synonyms for ordain

Depending on context, synonyms include foresay, order, enact, consecrate.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include enact, consecrate, order, dictate, appoint, prescribe.

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