Deciding

How to spell deciding

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce deciding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deciding mean?

1. verbIn the process of making a choice or reaching a settled judgement.
2. adjectiveSettling or determining the outcome of something; decisive.

Deciding in a sentence

• verb

  She spent the whole weekend deciding which job offer to accept.

• adjective

  Her late goal proved to be the deciding moment of the final.

• verb

  The committee is still deciding where to hold next year's conference.

• adjective

  Cost was the deciding factor when they chose the cheaper supplier.

Where does deciding come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb decidere, which literally meant 'to cut off', formed from de- meaning 'off' or 'away' and caedere meaning 'to cut'. The image is vivid: to make a decision is to cut away all the other options until only one remains. The verb passed into Old French as decider and entered English in the late fourteenth century with the settled sense of 'to settle a question' or 'to make a choice'. The same caedere root, meaning 'to cut', also gives English words such as 'incision', 'concise', and 'homicide'. The modern spelling drops the silent 'e' of 'decide' before adding '-ing', which is the small mechanical step that occasionally trips writers up.

How the word is built

• de- (off)
• cid (from Latin caedere: to cut)
• -ing (present participle / verbal suffix)