make up one's mind

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

make up one's mind (third-person singular simple present makes up one's mind, present participle making up one's mind, simple past and past participle made up one's mind)

1. (idiomatic) To decide; to reach a conclusion.

   I can't make up my mind whether to have ice cream or cake.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

     "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."

Translations

to decide, to reach a conclusion

• Arabic: وَطَّنَ نَفْسَهُ عَلَى (ar) (waṭṭana nafsahu ʕalā), عَزَمَ (ʕazama), قَرَّرَ (qarrara), صَمَّمَ (ṣammama)
• Belarusian: раша́ць impf (rašácʹ), рашы́ць pf (rašýcʹ)
• Bengali: ঠিক করা (ṭhik kora)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 決定／决定 (zh) (juédìng), 決心／决心 (zh) (juéxīn)

• Dutch: tot een besluit komen, een keuze maken
• Finnish: päättää (fi)
• French: se décider (fr), décider (fr)
• German: sich entscheiden (de), beschließen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (andþagkjan)
• Hebrew: הֶחְלִיט (he) (hekhlít)
• Hungarian: dönt (hu), elszánja magát, határoz (hu), elhatározza magát
• Italian: decidersi (it)
• Japanese: 決心する (ja) (けっしんする, kesshin suru), 決める (ja) (きめる, kimeru), 決定する (ja) (けっていする, kettei suru)
• Korean: 결심하다 (ko) (gyeolsimhada), 결정하다 (ko) (gyeoljeonghada), 정하다 (ko) (jeonghada)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bestemme seg (no)

• Polish: decydować (pl) impf, zdecydować (pl) pf
• Portuguese: decidir-se, escolher (pt), chegar a uma conclusão (pt)
• Russian: реша́ться (ru) impf (rešátʹsja), реши́ться (ru) pf (rešítʹsja), реша́ть (ru) impf (rešátʹ), реши́ть (ru) pf (rešítʹ)
• Spanish: decidirse (es), definirse (es)
• Swedish: bestämma sig (sv)
• Thai: ตัดสินใจ (th) (dtàt-sǐn-jai)
• Turkish: karar vermek (tr)
• Ukrainian: вирі́шувати impf (vyríšuvaty), ви́рішити pf (výrišyty)

See also

• have a mind of one's own
• change one's mind