Standard Lemma guide

determinism

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /dɪˈtɜːmɪnɪzəm/
  • Midwestern-US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 T ER1 M AH0 N IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The doctrine that all actions are determined by the current state and immutable laws of the universe, with no possibility of choice.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fatalism

Antonyms: indeterminism

2

noun

Meaning 2

The property of having behavior determined only by initial state and input.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: indeterminism

3

noun

Meaning 3

(philosophy) a philosophical theory holding that all events are inevitable consequences of antecedent sufficient causes; often understood as denying the possibility of free will

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: philosophical doctrine, philosophical theory

Narrower terms: fatalism

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French déterminisme, equivalent to determine + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

52 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: determinisme — notion in ethics
  • Arabic: حَتْمِيَّة (ḥatmiyya) — notion in ethics
  • Armenian: դետերմինիզմ (determinizm) — notion in ethics
  • Asturian: determinismu — notion in ethics
  • Azerbaijani: determinizm — notion in ethics
  • Belarusian: дэтэрмінізм (determinizm) — notion in ethics
  • Catalan: determinisme — notion in ethics
  • Chinese Mandarin: 決定論 /决定论 (juédìnglùn) — notion in ethics
  • Czech: determinismus — notion in ethics
  • Dutch: determinisme — notion in ethics
  • Esperanto: determinismo — notion in ethics
  • Estonian: determinism — notion in ethics
  • Finnish: determinismi — notion in ethics
  • French: déterminisme — notion in ethics
  • Galician: determinismo — notion in ethics
  • Georgian: დეტერმინიზმი (deṭerminizmi) — notion in ethics
  • German: Determinismus — notion in ethics
  • Greek: αιτιοκρατία (aitiokratía) — notion in ethics
  • Hebrew: דטרמיניזם (determinizm) — notion in ethics
  • Hungarian: determinizmus — notion in ethics
  • Icelandic: nauðhyggja — notion in ethics
  • Indonesian: determinisme — notion in ethics
  • Italian: determinismo — notion in ethics
  • Japanese: 決定論 — notion in ethics
  • Korean: 결정론 (gyeoljeongnon) — notion in ethics
  • Latvian: determinisms — notion in ethics
  • Lithuanian: determinizmas — notion in ethics
  • Macedonian: детермини́зам (determinízam) — notion in ethics
  • Malay: faham penentuan — notion in ethics
  • Malay: determinisme — notion in ethics
  • Malayalam: നിയതിവാദം (niyativādaṁ) — notion in ethics
  • Persian: تعینگرایی — notion in ethics
  • Polish: determinizm — notion in ethics
  • Portuguese: determinismo — notion in ethics
  • Romanian: determinism — notion in ethics
  • Russian: детермини́зм (determinízm) — notion in ethics
  • Serbo-Croatian: determinizam — notion in ethics
  • Slovak: determinizmus — notion in ethics
  • Slovene: determinizem — notion in ethics
  • Spanish: determinismo — notion in ethics
  • Swedish: determinism — notion in ethics
  • Tagalog: determinismo — notion in ethics
  • Tajik: ҷабргароӣ (jabrgaroyi) — notion in ethics
  • Thai: นิยัตินิยม (ní-yát-dtì-ní-yom) — notion in ethics
  • Turkish: determinizm — notion in ethics
  • Ukrainian: детермінізм (determinizm) — notion in ethics
  • Uzbek: determinizm — notion in ethics
  • Vietnamese: lý thuyết tất định — notion in ethics
  • Portuguese: determinismo — notion in computing
  • Russian: детермини́зм (determinízm) — notion in computing
  • Spanish: determinismo — notion in computing
  • Swedish: determinism — notion in computing