ordain

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ordinare (“to order”), from ordo (“order”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔɹˈdeɪn/
• Rhymes: -eɪn

Verb

ordain (third-person singular simple present ordains, present participle ordaining, simple past and past participle ordained)

1. To prearrange unalterably.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], “Epistle I”, in An Essay on Man. Address’d to a Friend, new edition, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, at the Three Flower-de-luces, behind the Chapter-house, S. Paul's, OCLC 228762650; republished as An Essay on Man. By Alexander Pope, Esq. A New Edition. To which is Prefixed a Critical Essay, by J[ohn] Aikin, M.D., London: Printed for T[homas] Cadell, Jun., and W. Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell), Strand, 1796, OCLC 1008157997, stanza IX, lines 259–262, page 55:

     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; […]

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

See also

• ordination

Further reading

• ordain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ordain in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• ordain at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Ardoin, Dorian, Rodina, donair, draino, inroad, radion