decide
verbcommon in dialogue
- //dɪˈsaɪd//
To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.
verb
- 1
To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.
The election will be decided on foreign policies.
It was decided to meet here at midnight.
Her last-minute goal decided the game.
The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; / Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
- 2
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.
So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
Since this cowl released a flutter of moths and parted at the shoulder as he was getting into it, he decided that it must be his own.
- 3
To cause someone to come to a decision.
Your admonition decided me against my intended course of action.
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
Of a Turing machine: to return a correct answer (for some yes-or-no problem) on every possible input.
No Turing Machine can decide the halting problem.
First, the hierarchy theorems tell us that a Turing machine can decide more languages in EXPSPACE than it can in PSPACE.
- 5
obsoleteTo cut off; to separate.
Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.
Etymology
From Middle English deciden, from Old French decider, from Latin dēcīdere, infinitive of dēcīdō (“cut off, decide”), from dē (“down from”) + caedō (“cut”).
Forms
- past tense
- decided
- past participle
- decided
- present participle
- deciding
- third person singular
- decides
decide · To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.
decided · Determined; resolute.deciding · The act of making a decision.decipher · To convert a code or cipher to plain text.