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decision

noun

Simple meaning

A choice made after thinking about what to do.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dihsizhuhn

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɪˈsɪʒən

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. chiefly combat sports

    A result arrived at by the judges when there is no clear winner at the end of the contest.

  2. The act of making up your mind about something

    “The burden of decision was his.”

  3. The act of deciding.

  4. The trait of resoluteness as evidenced by firmness of character or purpose

  5. A choice or judgement.

  6. uncountable

    Firmness of conviction.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A result arrived at by the judges when there is no clear winner at the end of the contest.

Used this way, decision is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Gentle
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Clear and precise
Usage feel
Precise and approving

Where it naturally appears

  • Sports
  • News/reporting
  • Everyday conversation

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use decision

  • “The burden of decision was his.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Result arrived at

final decisiondecision process

Other combinations

decision makingdecision makercourt decisiondecision supportpolitical decision

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • decision makernounCompound term

    Someone who administers a business.

  • decision makingnounCompound term

    The cognitive process of reaching a decision.

  • decision tablenounCompound term

    A table of all contingencies and the actions to be taken for each.

  • final decisionnounCompound term

    A judgment disposing of the case before the court.

  • judicial decisionnounCompound term

    The determination by a court of competent jurisdiction on matters submitted to it.

  • bakke decisionnounCompound term

    A ruling by the Supreme Court on affirmative action.

Usage

EverydayWrittenNeutral

Usually paired with make, take (British), or reach — not with "do".

Common: “make a decision”

Less natural: “do a decision”

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: result arrived at by the judges when there is no clear winner at the end of the contest

indecision

Common Forms & Phrases

  • make a decision , Choose between options.
  • reach a decision , Arrive at a choice after discussion.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.