Predetermination is the noun for deciding or arranging something before it happens, so the outcome is not left to chance. If a contest already has a chosen winner, that is predetermination of the result. Philosophers also use it for a bigger claim: that causes in the past already fix what you will do, so “choice” is less free than it feels. Though actually, this heavy noun is much rarer than the verb predetermine and the adjective predetermined. In ordinary English those two do most of the work; this one lives in law, philosophy, and careful essays. It is not the same as predestination. Predestination is the God-has-chosen belief. Predetermination is “it was fixed in advance” — by a person, a rule, or a chain of causes.

預先決定、事先決定（名詞）。跟神學上的「預定論」不同，這裡多半不是在講上帝。