Synonyms
1. Fatal, deadly, lethal, mortal apply to something that has caused or is capable of causing death. Fatal may refer to either the future or the past; in either case, it emphasizes inevitability and the inescapable—the disastrous, whether death or dire misfortune: The accident was fatal. Such a mistake would be fatal. Deadly looks to the future, and suggests that which is likely to cause death (though not inevitably so): a deadly poison, disease. Like deadly, lethal looks to the future but, like many other words of Latin origin, suggests a more technical usage: a lethal dose; a gas that is lethal. Mortal looks to the past and refers to death that has actually occurred: He received a mortal wound. The disease proved to be mortal. 2. ruinous, disastrous, calamitous, catastrophic, devastating. 4. predestined, foreordained.

Antonyms
1. life-giving.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Fatal

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Fatal is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Example Sentences

Researchers track the cause of a rare but fatal form of insomnia.

Global warming may damage health and cause fatal disease.

She belongs to a family carrying the gene for fatal familial insomnia.

EXPAND

Researchers track the cause of a rare but fatal form of insomnia.

Global warming may damage health and cause fatal disease.

She belongs to a family carrying the gene for fatal familial insomnia.

It's called preventing a catastrophe from becoming fatal to our species.

If the head of a wheat or rice plant grows too big, the plant will fall over, with fatal results.

Up to one in five cases of cutaneous anthrax, the skin-infecting form, can be fatal.

The study was prompted by a spate of fatal accidents involving college athletes riding in the vans over.

But malnutrition actually causes diseases as well, and can be fatal in its own right.

But their speed, along with their tendency to fixate on their prey while giving chase, can prove fatal.

Trials of two different drugs show promise in treating advanced melanoma, which is usually fatal.

Crashes were frequent and horrific-riders who went down faced being impaled by splinters-and often fatal.

During the spill, a fatal act of bravery was caught on film by a nearby photographer.

All these proffered reasons for fatal coal mining accidents miss the mark by a mile.

Their fatal mistake, perhaps, was to toast the birth of the single currency with champagne and smoked salmon canapés.

The underside may produce venom, which can be fatal to humans, and which can remain deadly even after the stingray's death.

The fatal infection begins with the bite of a tsetse fly.

Then the original scientists point out the others' systematic errors and fatal flaws in understanding.

In some cases, there is a fatal flaw: the research results are simply not significant enough to warrant publication.

It is also the time when a bad strategic decision can turn out to be fatal.

The oils also can disrupt an insect's cellular membranes, causing fatal leakages of essential fluids.

Many more have crept in without notice, including those that cause fatal human diseases.

As little as one to two milligrams of the toxin can be fatal.

Nothing, that is, beyond a fatal inability to imagine something other than a palace on a hill.

And while recent incidents have had serious and sometimes fatal consequences, they have hardly resulted in widespread chaos.

In fact, blown attempts at both are the primary reason why kidnappings turn fatal.

As a result, their bodies are unable to staunch bleeding, and injuries leave them at risk of fatal blood loss.

The status quo is formidable and when it strikes, it generally delievers a fatal blow.

Poor medical facilities on the long roads of a vast country make it more likely accidents are fatal.

Bites are extremely painful and can be fatal to humans.

But the disease usually responds well to antibiotics, and it is rarely fatal.

Though treatable with antibiotics, it can cause fatal complications if undiagnosed.

But now two potentially fatal flaws are apparent: a hole in the aorta and another in the heart.

These medications could also help treat malignant hyperthermia, a rare but sometimes fatal reaction to anesthesia.

Unfortunately, this also resulted in an increase in fatal accidents.

Scientists have discovered a tiny, one-celled parasite that causes a grisly and fatal infection in krill.

Spirit could experience a fatal electronics failure.

After the initial attacks in any given province, subsequent fatal incidents become more and more frequent.

Ape researchers are exposing their wild subjects to fatal respiratory diseases, a new study says.

Severe mucolipidosis is fatal within ten years of birth.

The investigation into the fatal accident led to major design changes for future launch vehicles.

Fatal canid diseases present a more immediate-and more addressable-threat to the wolves.

Run-ins with boats can kill manatees on impact and boat propellers can inflict deep, sometimes fatal wounds.

When prey is close enough, they attack with a fatal pounce.

Untreated, angioedema can cause painful cramps and potentially fatal suffocation.

The sugars in ripe fruits can ferment in their stomachs and cause fatal bloating.

Its sting is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal.

They have an uncanny ability to sense our murderous intentions, taking flight and disappearing milliseconds before a fatal swat.

Tay-Sachs is a fatal inherited disease of the central nervous system.

Every once in a while there's a job letter with a fatal flaw.

All of us have occasional sleepless nights, but for people with fatal familial insomnia, it's the beginning of the end.

Experimental treatment does not halt fatal complication of bone-marrow transplant.

It would be fatal if it appears he is only claiming his ethnicity to get a leg up in the job market.

Mice reveal how changes to the regulatory system can be fatal.

Species that share a single fatal flaw could be wiped out by a virus that can exploit that flaw.

And a footballing defeat might have been fatal for his hopes.

Finding could lead to new therapies to thwart spread of this contagious, and mostly fatal disease.

The slowing of the bond-forming process prevents ice crystallization, which would be fatal for the fish.

Study of a potentially fatal food-triggered disease has uncovered a process that may contribute to many autoimmune disorders.

Someone with a peanut allergy could have a fatal reaction to a plant engineered to carry a peanut protein, doctors warn.

The culprit is a fatal brain disease gradually spreading.

Authorities closed the station where demonstrators condemned the fatal shooting of a man by transit police the week before.

It's having failure be a fatal situation that is bad.

Her pain was so intense and her impending death so obvious that he agreed to give her a fatal drug overdose.

Fatal consequences can and do result when officers fail to detect a secreted weapon which is later used against them.

But if you're willing to run the risk, it might not be fatal.

That's despite the fact that the number of fatal shark attacks.

Fatal to piglets, the disease spreads to people only through close contact with infected pigs.

The fact that schools and universities are not enforcing anti-bullying laws and that this has fatal consequences is a tragedy.

Participants in such trials are often those whose tumour has spread beyond its original site, and will probably prove fatal.

Brown pelicans got a little browner, thanks to the oil spill, with potentially fatal results.

Modern medication can stop the tularemia from becoming fatal.

Taking them instead of the real thing can turn a treatable disease into a fatal one.

The cure for the potentially fatal edemas: oxygen and rapid descent.

Scientists have known for some time that cocaine can raise body temperatures to fatal levels.

Scientists worry that this could eventually lead to fatal lung diseases similar to silicosis.

When humans come into contact with brown recluse spiders, results can be painful- if not fatal.

Rates of suicide and fatal car crashes peak during the teenage years.

When a roughneck neighbour steals the cash, there's a fatal struggle, and she hangs for his death.

But the snakes avoid potentially fatal conflicts with older squirrels.

Alpha toxin is what cause the sometimes fatal toxic shock syndrome.

For three of the five broker-dealers, that had fatal consequences.

It is so important to be well informed and educated on this rare disease that could be potentially fatal.

Still, any hint of foul play could be fatal for the project.

They lie in wait and creep close enough to attack their victims with a quick spring and a fatal pounce.

Thousands of other fatal illnesses have also been blamed on the disaster.

Even within our own solar system, a trip to the outer planets would involve a fatal dose of radiation to humans.

Climbing to the top of the world is an often fatal quest.

These are fatal gifts, embedded in a long tradition of legitimizing women's sacrifice".

Tutankhamun's bone disease was crippling, but on its own would not have been fatal.

In the substantia nigra, a glut of dopamine is fatal for the densely packed cell bodies of neurons.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

fatal (ˈfeɪt^əl)

—*adj*
1.	resulting in or capable of causing death: a fatal accident
2.	bringing ruin; disastrous
3.	decisively important; fateful
4.	decreed by fate; destined; inevitable

[C14: from Old French fatal or Latin fātālis, from fātum, see fate]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

fatal

late 14c., "decreed by fate," from L. fatalis "ordained by fate," from fatum (see fate); sense of "causing death" is early 15c.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

fatal fa·tal (fāt'l)
adj.
Causing or capable of causing death.

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Computing Dictionary