determine
Usage
What are other ways to say determine?
To determine is to arrive at a conclusion after reasoning or observation: He determined that there was no available path to victory. To resolve is to show firmness of purpose: He resolved to ask for a promotion. To decide is to make up one's mind as to what shall be done and the way to do it: He decided to go today.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“There are two key reports that will largely determine what the Fed decides to do, with the first—the September jobs report—due on Friday,” said ING economist James Knightley in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
In his opinion Judge Gregory Katsas, writing for two of the three appellate judges, said "in our Republic, it is the President and the Secretary of War who must determine how best to balance" risks.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
Renovation costs, the health of the real-estate market in her area and selling costs will all determine how much tax she pays.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
The article maintains that Latino men are a decisive constituency whose votes could determine congressional and local races.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Its agenda was more basic—that is, to determine who was the best American player period.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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But the company determines the behavior of each new version, and the military must keep up to date on the latest offerings, the Washington appeals court found.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
Known to physicists as big G, this fundamental number determines the strength of gravitational attraction throughout the universe.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
A trial of the facts is an option that is open to prosecutors if a court determines that a person is unfit to stand trial and criminal proceedings cannot go ahead.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
They believe in a higher power or spiritual force, but don’t typically embrace a more personalized belief that the God of the Bible determines the course of their lives and is active in human affairs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Dobzhansky could now restate the essential truth of Mendel’s discovery—a gene determines a physical feature—by generalizing that idea across multiple genes and multiple features: a genotype determines a phenotype.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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It is determined in suffering avoided, time returned and problems solved that once seemed intractable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
"We determined it's in the best interest of our club, players and support staff to dismiss Federico Higuain from his responsibilities," Crew general manager Issa Tall said in a statement.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
A report by the National Transportation Safety Board found the reason for the loss of engine power could not be determined.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
"We ask that Australia clarify how exactly 'harm' and 'risks' shall be determined... ensuring these definitions do not encroach on protected speech," the US said in its submission.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
He signaled urgently, but Dodzi was determined to wait for the return of his dream girl.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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Assuming a deal between the U.S. and Iran takes shape in 1Q of 2027, supply and demand fundamentals could play a bigger role in determining oil prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
The qubit repeatedly checks the mechanical resonator during its two milliseconds of vibration, determining whether the phonon is in an energy state of 1 or 0.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
At the end of last year, Singh and his co-founder laid off five engineers after determining AI agents could do their work—and do it 24 hours a day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
America’s homegrown narratives also have a distinctively national flavor, portraying the choices made by individuals as determining their fate.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
The tricky part is determining where the other punctuation marks go: inside or outside the closing parenthesis.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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Vocabulary lists containing determine
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Vocabulary of the Common Core
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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