Word
determinism
Phoneticsde·ter·min·ism
US/dɪˈtɝməˌnɪzəm/
UK/dɪtˈɜːmɪnˌɪzəm/
Uncountable noun Philosophy
Definition
n. the principle that every event is completely caused by what happened before, so the exact same start always gives the exact same result.
n. the philosophical and computational doctrine that all events, states, and outputs are strictly necessitated by antecedent conditions and immutable natural or algorithmic laws.
Examples
“In a universe of strict determinism, every choice you make would be completely predictable.”
“Programmers value code determinism because running the test suite with the same seed guarantees reproducible debug logs.”
“GPU floating-point non-determinism presents major challenges for exact reproducibility during large-scale distributed neural network pre-training.”
Examples
simple
“In a universe of strict determinism, every choice you make would be completely predictable.”
contextual
“Programmers value code determinism because running the test suite with the same seed guarantees reproducible debug logs.”
complex
“GPU floating-point non-determinism presents major challenges for exact reproducibility during large-scale distributed neural network pre-training.”
Real-World Examples
“Environmental determinism is the theory that people's physical, mental, and moral habits are directly due to the influence of their natural environment.” “No one here is cheeky enough to comment on the nominative determinism of a Gallic hero being called “De Gaulle”.” Etymology
From Latin determinare ('to enclose, bound, limit, fix'), from de- ('completely') + terminare ('to end, limit'). Introduced to philosophy in the 19th century by William James and others.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
NOUN
ADJECTIVE
Domain
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.B2 FirstIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.5.5–6.5TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 4.0–4.572–94TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.785–944
- Frequency
- Occasional
- Level
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Updated
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englishreference.com/q/determinism