- determination
- late 14c., "decision, sentence," from Fr. détermination (14c.), from L. determinationem, noun of action from determinare (see determine). As "a bringing to an end" (especilly of a suit at law), late 15c. As "fixed direction toward a goal," from 1650s, originally in physics or anatomy; metaphoric sense "fixation of will" is from 1680s; that of "quality of being resolute" is from 1822.