Ordains

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To officially appoint or establish something, especially in a religious context, while also determining its outcome or destiny
2. This term refers to the act of officially designating or conferring authority, particularly within a religious framework, as well as deciding the fate of an event
3. Formally appoints a person to a clerical position through a recognized ceremony ; determines or sets an outcome by authoritative decision

Etymology: "Ordains" is the third-person singular form of "ordain," so the story belongs to the verb itself. Its roots reach back to Latin "ordo," meaning "order" or "row," the same idea that gives us "ordinary" and "ordinance." The Latin verb "ordinare" meant "to order," arranging things into their proper sequence or rank. That sense passed through Old French "ordiner" into Middle English as "ordeynen," where it carried both the sense of putting things in order and of setting someone in a rank or office. That second sense explains the church meaning. To ordain someone was to place them in holy orders, arranging them into a formal clerical rank. The authoritative sense of deciding an outcome grows from the same root: a person or authority who ordains something puts it in its proper place, settling how things will be. The word is a doublet of "ordinate," a relative that came into English directly from Latin rather than through French, so the two share a root but took different routes into the language.

Synonyms: appoints, designates, establishes, enacts, decrees

Antonyms: dissolves, abolishes, cancels, disestablishes, disband