# destiny

Pronunciation: say "DES-ti-nee" /ˈdɛs.tɪ.ni/

## Noun

1. The future state that a person or thing is destined for, settled in advance by divine power or human will and bound to come in time.
   - Simple: What will happen to someone or something in the end, planned before by God or by people.
   - _She was convinced that her destiny was to become a doctor, as her grandmother had foretold._
   - _Raised as heir to the throne, the prince never questioned the destiny his father had chosen for him._
2. What finally happens to a person, whether or not it was bound to happen or decided in advance.
   - Simple: What happens to someone in the end, even if it was not planned or certain.
   - _Voters in the region want to control their own destiny rather than leave it to distant officials._
   - _The team's destiny now depends on how it plays in the last two games._
3. The fixed order of things, thought of as an irresistible power that decides what will happen, either in general or to a particular person.
   - Simple: A strong power that people believe decides the future and that nobody can stop.
   - _They met by chance on a train, but both of them swear it was destiny._
   - _No one, the old tales say, can escape the hand of destiny._

## Origin

From Middle English destine (and related forms), from Old French destinee, from Latin dēstinō, the source of English destine. It displaced the Old English word wyrd.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/destiny (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).