Talk:meant to be

In the first sense "destined to exist", two of the listed citations are clearly wrong:

Why, look at how long I've been dating Oliver. If it wasn't meant to be, it would have ended a long time ago.

From the moment he started dating my mom, I never doubted that it was meant to be.

specifically, they refer to figurative sense of relationship outcome, covered by sense #3.
The definition line "destined to exist" is basically absolutely useless. It appears to me that it has been deliberately made so, so that all kind of ambiguous meanings could be encompassed. exist is almost as useless part of a defining vocabulary as the verb be, and should be evaded at all cost. --Ivan Štambuk 22:13, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, the first definition is wrong. Actually, all of the definitions are wrong. There is only a single idiomatic sense, and we haven't captured it yet. —Ruakh_TALK 00:33, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Deletion debate

The following information has failed Wiktionary's deletion process.

It should not be re-entered without careful consideration.

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meant to be

Following the long but apparently not very productive discussion at the Tea Room, I suggest deletion of all senses except 1. Ƿidsiþ 05:56, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Improve sense 1 and delete all others. —Ruakh_TALK 07:04, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Why delete? None of those senses are sum of parts. --Ivan Štambuk 07:23, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Arguably, this is a matter for RFV: if those senses actually existed, then they wouldn't be SOP, so we should look for cites to determine if they're real. However, from the example sentences, it's clear that it's just that the definitions are wrong, and the underlying senses are in fact SOP (meaning "intended/destined/supposed to be"). —Ruakh_TALK 07:35, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

What definitions are wrong?

"intended/destined/supposed to be" - this kind of definition is worthless because it encompasses some 500 different meanings --Ivan Štambuk 07:38, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

As does the term "meant to be" -- not just the few you've added to the entry. Equinox ◑ 09:19, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Could you list a few such additional meanings? --Ivan Štambuk 15:50, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

"After all the arguments it seems we're meant to be apart." "Get back here! You're meant to be helping!" etc. etc. I don't think you agree with me that these are the same. Everybody else seems to. Equinox ◑ 16:30, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Your first example should be somehow integrated into sense #3, and your second example is useless because it's a SoP of meant=supposed + continuous form of help. Please base your arguments on logical expounding and not on "agreeing" and "disagreeing". Very little substance has been actually put forth in defense of deletion. --Ivan Štambuk 21:05, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Delete per nominator. And the first sense, too, but whatever.​—msh210℠ 16:10, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

• Done. Ƿidsiþ 13:15, 4 October 2010 (UTC)