Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A conclusion or judgment reached after consideration.
  • noun The act of reaching a conclusion or of passing of judgment on an issue under consideration.
  • noun Firmness of character or action; determination.
  • noun Sports A victory won on points in boxing when no knockout has occurred or in wrestling when no fall has occurred.
  • noun Baseball A win or loss accorded to a pitcher.
  • transitive verb To defeat by a decision, as in boxing.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of separating or cutting off; detachment of a part; excision.
  • noun Determination, as of a contest or an event; end, as of a struggle; arbitrament: as, the decision of a battle by arms.
  • noun Determination, as of a question or a doubt; final judgment or opinion in a case which has been under deliberation or discussion: as, the decision of the Supreme Court.
  • noun A resolution; a fixing of a purpose in the mind.
  • noun The quality of being decided; ability to form a settled purpose; prompt determination: as, a man of decision.
  • noun Decision, Determination, Resolution. Decision is the quality of being able to make up one's mind promptly, clearly, and firmly as to what shall be done and the way to do it. Determination is the settling upon some line of action with a fixed purpose to stick to it; it is somewhat nearer than the others to doggedness, and sometimes approaches obstinacy. Determination may be negative, as not to do a thing, but resolution is generally positive or active; it often implies more courage than the others, and is otherwise more high-minded. But these words are often used interchangeably.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Cutting off; division; detachment of a part.
  • noun The act of deciding; act of settling or terminating, as a controversy, by giving judgment on the matter at issue; determination, as of a question or doubt; settlement; conclusion.
  • noun An account or report of a conclusion, especially of a legal adjudication or judicial determination of a question or cause
  • noun The quality of being decided; prompt and fixed determination; unwavering firmness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A choice or judgement.
  • noun uncountable Firmness of conviction.
  • noun chiefly combat sports A result arrived at by the judges when there is no clear winner at the end of the contest.
  • noun baseball A win or a loss awarded to a pitcher.
  • verb boxing To defeat an opponent by a decision of the judges, rather than by a knockout

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (boxing) a victory won on points when no knockout has occurred
  • noun the outcome of a game or contest
  • noun a position or opinion or judgment reached after consideration
  • noun the trait of resoluteness as evidenced by firmness of character or purpose
  • noun the act of making up your mind about something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English decisioun, from Old French decision, from Latin dēcīsiō, dēcīsiōn-, curtailment, settlement, from dēcīsus, past participle of dēcīdere, to cut off, decide; see decide.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French, from Latin decisio, decisionis, from dēcīdō ("to decide").

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Examples

  • It wasn't a marketing decision, but a story decision*.

    The Dangers of Switching Series jimhines 2008

  • ¡§Your decision¡¨ is more likely to draw an unfortunate emotional response than ¡§the decision.

    Hugues Goosse and the Unresponsiveness of Juckes « Climate Audit 2007

  • Within this report we include some aspects which can be of help for better decision making A complete “decision making package” should be prepared within the FCR follow-up study.

    7. Knowhow transfer 1987

  • He tried to explain to her that a bad business decision which results in a) pissing off your customers or b) having a bad credit rating was, perhaps, a * bad business decision* but that just because something made her personally unhappy didn't mean it was immoral or unethical.

    No More Mister Nice Blog 2010

  • : P sorry to hear because of one sampat fella, you need to make this decision: (anyway, will sapot your decision~! inevitable

    angeles' playground 2008

  • The word decision comes from the Latin root meaning “to cut off from.”

    The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make Sean Covey 2006

  • The word decision comes from the Latin root meaning “to cut off from.”

    The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make Sean Covey 2006

  • Furthermore, your enthusiasm is, if you please, to be instantaneous, despite the fact that if the marketing department who, in all probability, will not have read your book by the time the title decision is made is mistaken about the market value of the new title, the author is invariably blamed.

    Author! Author! » 2006 » September 2006

  • Furthermore, your enthusiasm is, if you please, to be instantaneous, despite the fact that if the marketing department who, in all probability, will not have read your book by the time the title decision is made is mistaken about the market value of the new title, the author is invariably blamed.

    Author! Author! » Blog Archive » Titles that are, um, catchy 2006

  • Furthermore, your enthusiasm is, if you please, to be instantaneous, despite the fact that if the marketing department who, in all probability, will not have read your book by the time the title decision is made is mistaken about the market value of the new title, the author is invariably blamed.

    Author! Author! » Blog Archive » What’s in a name? 2005

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