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DECIDING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The cognitive process of reaching a decision
Example:
a good executive must be good at decision making
Synonyms:
deciding; decision making
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("deciding" is a kind of...):
higher cognitive process (cognitive processes that presuppose the availability of knowledge and put it to use)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "deciding"):
officiating; officiation; refereeing; umpirage (the act of umpiring)
determination (deciding or controlling something's outcome or nature)
eclectic method; eclecticism (making decisions on the basis of what seems best instead of following some single doctrine or style)
groupthink (decision making by a group (especially in a manner that discourages creativity or individual responsibility))
closure; resolution; settlement (something settled or resolved; the outcome of decision making)
judgement; judging; judgment (the cognitive process of reaching a decision or drawing conclusions)
change of mind; flip-flop; reversal; turnabout; turnaround (a decision to reverse an earlier decision)
choice; pick; selection (the person or thing chosen or selected)
cull; reject (the person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality)
alternative; choice; option (one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen)
Derivation:
decide (reach, make, or come to a decision about something)
decide (bring to an end; settle conclusively)
deciding (having the power or quality of deciding)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having the power or quality of deciding
Example:
the determinative (or determinant) battle
Synonyms:
deciding; determinant; determinative; determining
Classified under:
Similar:
decisive (determining or having the power to determine an outcome)
Derivation:
deciding (the cognitive process of reaching a decision)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb decide
Context examples:
After Emma had talked about it for ten minutes, Mr. Woodhouse felt no unwillingness, and only made the usual stipulation of not sitting at the bottom of the table himself, with the usual regular difficulty of deciding who should do it for him.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
They were to go immediately to Delaford, that Edward might have some personal knowledge of his future home, and assist his patron and friend in deciding on what improvements were needed to it; and from thence, after staying there a couple of nights, he was to proceed on his journey to town.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
But the rain was also a mere trifle to Mrs Clay; she would hardly allow it even to drop at all, and her boots were so thick! much thicker than Miss Anne's; and, in short, her civility rendered her quite as anxious to be left to walk with Mr Elliot as Anne could be, and it was discussed between them with a generosity so polite and so determined, that the others were obliged to settle it for them; Miss Elliot maintaining that Mrs Clay had a little cold already, and Mr Elliot deciding on appeal, that his cousin Anne's boots were rather the thickest.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
While thus engaged, Elizabeth had a fair opportunity of deciding whether she most feared or wished for the appearance of Mr. Darcy, by the feelings which prevailed on his entering the room; and then, though but a moment before she had believed her wishes to predominate, she began to regret that he came.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
If you are getting married, you may be deciding how to share funds with your partner.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
The process of deciding to take an action (a behavior, like avoiding a chair) based on information received from the senses (like visual information) is known as “perceptual decision-making”.
(Researchers discover neural code that predicts behavior, National Institutes of Health)
Driven to shifts in order to see Ruth, and deciding that the long walk from north Oakland to her house and back again consumed too much time, he kept his black suit in pawn in place of his bicycle.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Marianne was spared from the troublesome feelings of contempt and resentment, on this impertinent examination of their features, and on the puppyism of his manner in deciding on all the different horrors of the different toothpick-cases presented to his inspection, by remaining unconscious of it all; for she was as well able to collect her thoughts within herself, and be as ignorant of what was passing around her, in Mr. Gray's shop, as in her own bedroom.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
She was anxious, she knew—more anxious perhaps than she ought to be—for what was it after all whether she went or staid? but if her uncle were to be a great while considering and deciding, and with very grave looks, and those grave looks directed to her, and at last decide against her, she might not be able to appear properly submissive and indifferent.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Jo wrote no more sensational stories, deciding that the money did not pay for her share of the sensation, but going to the other extreme, as is the way with people of her stamp, she took a course of Mrs. Sherwood, Miss Edgeworth, and Hannah More, and then produced a tale which might have been more properly called an essay or a sermon, so intensely moral was it.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
