Predestination

Etymology

From Latin “praedestinare” (to determine beforehand), from “prae-” (before) plus “destinare” (to make firm, appoint). Prominent in Calvinist theology, it holds that salvation is settled by divine decree rather than earned by human choice. The idea provoked centuries of argument about whether human freedom can coexist with an all-knowing, all-determining God.

noun · /pree-des-tuh-NAY-shun/
The doctrine that God has determined in advance who will be saved.
What it names
A hard answer to free will versus divine control, and the anxious question of whether one's fate is already sealed.
Example
A grim streak of predestination ran through his fatalism at work — why try, if the outcome was decided the day he was hired?
Related idea
Fatalism says outcomes are fixed by impersonal fate no matter what you do; predestination attributes the fixing specifically to a deliberate divine will and decree.