喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture decide as cutting through a tangle of possibilities and settling on one. Several roads were open; you bring it to a close and pick a single one — the matter is now cut clean and fixed. That act of 'cutting it down to one and settling it' is what runs through every use.

可以想成「在一堆攤開的可能性裡，一刀切下去，定下其中一個」——本來好幾條路都開著，你把事情收尾、選定一條，這件事就被…更多收起可以想成「在一堆攤開的可能性裡，一刀切下去，定下其中一個」——本來好幾條路都開著，你把事情收尾、選定一條，這件事就被切乾淨、定下來了。這個「切到剩一個、就此定案」的動作貫穿了所有用法：有時是你自己切，有時是某個因素替局面切，有時是某件事把你推著去切。

From the word’s history

Latin decidere is literally 'to cut off' (de- 'off' + caedere 'to cut') — to settle a question by cutting away the other options.

拉丁文 decidere 字面就是「切掉」（de- 切除 + caedere 切）——把其他選項都切掉，問題就此了結，正對應「定下一個」的核心畫面。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'decide'

Three branches

做出選擇

核心畫面本身：人面對選項，切定一個。

make a decision · verb · A2

To make a choice about what to do after thinking about it.

決定

替局面定下結果

把「切定」的主角從人換成一個因素：是它替整個局面切出了結果。

determine a result · verb · A2

To be the thing that causes a particular result to happen.

決定（勝負／結果）

促使某人決定

不是自己切，也不是替局面切，而是把某人推到刀口上、讓他切下去。

influence someone's choice · verb · A2

To make someone choose to do something in a particular way.

促使（某人做決定）

原始詞典資料5 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

decideverb/dɪˈsaɪd/

  • 1

    To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.

    • The election will be decided on foreign policies.
    • It was decided to meet here at midnight.
  • 2

    To make a judgment, especially after deliberation.

    • You must decide between good and evil.
    • I have decided that it is healthier to walk to work.
  • 3

    To cause someone to come to a decision.

    • Your admonition decided me against my intended course of action.
    • It decides me to look into the matter, for if it is worth anyone's while to take so much trouble, there must be something in it.
  • 4

    computingcomputing-theoryengineeringOf a Turing machine: to return a correct answer (for some yes-or-no problem) on every possible input.

    • No Turing Machine can decide the halting problem.
    • First, the hierarchy theorems tell us that a Turing machine can decide more languages in EXPSPACE than it can in PSPACE.
  • 5

    obsoleteTo cut off; to separate.

    • Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。