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Decide vs Arbitrate - What's the difference?

decide | arbitrate |

As verbs the difference between decide and arbitrate

is that decide is while arbitrate is to make a judgment (on a dispute) as an arbitrator or arbiter.

decide

English

Verb

(decid)
  • To resolve (a contest, problem, dispute, etc.); to choose, determine, or settle.
  • The election will be decided on foreign policies.
    We must decide our next move.
    Her last-minute goal decided the game.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; / Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
  • 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.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xx. 40
  • So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
  • To cause someone to come to a decision.
  • * 1920 , , "The Adventure of the Three Gables" (Norton edition, 2005, p. 1537),
  • 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.
  • (obsolete) To cut off; to separate.
  • * Fuller
  • Our seat denies us traffic here; / The sea, too near, decides us from the rest.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Synonyms

    * make up one's mind * choose * determine * pick

    arbitrate

    English

    Verb

  • To make a judgment (on a dispute) as an arbitrator or arbiter
  • to arbitrate a disputed case
  • * Shakespeare
  • There shall your swords and lances arbitrate / The swelling difference of your settled hate.
  • To submit (a dispute) to such judgment
  • (mathematics, rare) To assign an object an arbitrary value, or otherwise arbitrarily determine it
  • We wish to show f is continuous. Arbitrate epsilon greater than zero...