Foredeeming

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Deciding or judging something in advance, as though fate had already settled its outcome
2. Having previously determined or ordained an event before it has taken place
3. Predetermining a course of events by a settled judgment made ahead of time

Etymology: "Foredeeming" is the present participle of "foredeem," which means to decide or judge something in advance. The verb began as Old English "foredēman," formed from "fore-," meaning "before," and "deem," which once meant to judge, form an opinion, or pronounce a sentence. Old English "deman" was itself related to the idea of setting a verdict, so "foredeem" carried the sense of reaching a judgment before the facts were in. The word passed into Middle English as "foredemen," and its core meaning has stayed remarkably stable: to prejudge. The prefix does the work here, pushing the act of judging back in time so that the conclusion arrives ahead of the evidence. Because "deem" has since become rather formal and literary, "foredeem" now sounds old-fashioned, which is part of why its present participle reads as a deliberate choice in writing.