To predetermine something means to decide or settle it in advance, before events actually unfold. When a teacher predetermines the groups for a science project before students arrive, she's already chosen who works with whom. When a game show's outcome is predetermined, the winner has been selected ahead of time, even though it looks like a real competition.

The word combines pre (before) with determine (to decide), making its meaning clear: deciding beforehand. Sometimes predetermined things are perfectly fair and practical. A school might predetermine the schedule for fire drills throughout the year. A family might predetermine their vacation dates months in advance.

But the word often carries a sense that predetermining removes choice or makes something feel artificial. If you walk into a meeting where everything has been predetermined, your opinions won't actually matter because all decisions are already made. In science fiction stories, characters sometimes worry that their futures are predetermined by fate or prophecy, meaning they have no real control over what happens to them.

The word appears in serious discussions about fairness and freedom. Courts might investigate whether a trial's outcome was predetermined. Philosophers debate whether human choices are predetermined by our brains and circumstances, or whether we genuinely make free decisions.