DictionaryAI

decide

verb
di-SYD/dɪˈsaɪd/

Formsdecides, deciding, decided

5 meanings of decide

Practice

  1. 1
    make up mindverb
    To reach a judgment about something, especially after careful deliberation.

    The committee debated all afternoon before they could decide.

    She weighed every option carefully and then decided.

    UsageOften followed by to + verb (decide to go), between options, on a choice, or that or whether + a clause.

    Similarchoose, conclude, resolve

    Oppositehesitate, waver, dither

    Note

    The King James Bible of 1611 gives it an object, "thyself hast decided it", which shows how close it stays to the settling sense.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To resolve a contest, problem, or dispute by choosing, determining, or settling on an outcome.

    A penalty shootout will decide the championship tonight.

    The court finally decided the long-running property dispute.

    UsageThe deciding event or factor can be the subject: a late goal decides the game.

    Similarsettle, determine, resolve

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To bring someone to a decision; to be the factor that pushes a person to choose.

    We had argued about the trip for weeks, but a week of sunny forecasts finally decided us.

    If the home inspection turns up nothing serious, that should decide them, and they will make an offer.

    UsageThe reason is the subject and the person the object: decide someone to do something, or decide someone against a plan.

    Similarsway, persuade, convince

    Note

    The causative turn makes the person the object, and the reason does the deciding. An admonition decides you against a plan. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Three Gables, the trouble someone has taken "decides me to look into the matter." With people as the object, decided the voters means they were persuaded, not settled like a dispute.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    verbobsolete
    To cut off or sever one thing from another.
    Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.
    1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State
    Note

    An obsolete sense that keeps the literal "cut" behind the settling sense alive in English. Thomas Fuller's The Holy State (1642) uses it of geography: "The sea, too near, decides us from the rest." The construction is decide one thing from another. A modern reader meeting it in older prose should read it as "separates", because today decides us would mean bringing us to a choice.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • Decide has an obsolete sense meaning to cut off or separate. en.wiktionary.org
    • The word's etymology includes the literal meaning 'cut'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Thomas Fuller wrote The Holy State. archive.org
    • The Holy State was first published in 1642. celm.folger.edu
    • The quoted wording appears in The Holy State and describes geographical separation. Fuller reproduces verses spoken by a child representing Norwich. en.wiktionary.org
    • The historical example uses the construction decide something from something else. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 5
    verb
    Of a Turing machine: to return a correct yes-or-no answer for a given problem on every possible input.

Practice

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Origin

Latin dēcīdere ("cut off, decide"), made of dē ("down from") and caedō ("cut"), passed through Old French decider into Middle English as deciden.