decide

verb

1. (ambitransitive)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.”

   “Her last-minute goal decided the game.”

   “The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; / Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.”

   “I did not see the program, but Mrs. Nixon told me that you were great on the Donahue Show. As you can imagine, she is an expert on politics and she predicts that whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!”

2. (intransitive)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.”

   “So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.”

3. (transitive)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. Of 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. (obsolete)To cut off; to separate.

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