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7 dictionary results for: fate
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
fate 
[feyt] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, fat·ed, fat·ing.
[feyt] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, fat·ed, fat·ing. –noun
–verb (used with object)
| 1. | something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune; lot: It is always his fate to be left behind. |
| 2. | the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events; time: Fate decreed that they would never meet again. |
| 3. | that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny: Death is our ineluctable fate. |
| 4. | a prophetic declaration of what must be: The oracle pronounced their fate. |
| 5. | death, destruction, or ruin. |
| 6. | the Fates, Classical Mythology. the three goddesses of destiny, known to the Greeks as the Moerae and to the Romans as the Parcae. |
| 7. | to predetermine, as by the decree of fate; destine (used in the passive): a person who was fated to be the savior of the country. |
[Origin: 1325–75; ME < L fātum utterance, decree of fate, destiny, orig. neut. of fātus, ptp. of fārī to speak]
] —Synonyms 1. karma, kismet; chance, luck. Fate, destiny, doom refer to the idea of a fortune, usually adverse, that is predetermined and inescapable. The three words are frequently interchangeable. Fate stresses the irrationality and impersonal character of events: It was Napoleon's fate to be exiled. The word is often lightly used, however: It was my fate to meet her that very afternoon. Destiny emphasizes the idea of an unalterable course of events, and is often used of a propitious fortune: It was his destiny to save his nation. Doom esp. applies to the final ending, always unhappy or terrible, brought about by destiny or fate: He met his doom bravely. 7. foreordain, preordain.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| fate
(fāt) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English, from Old French fat, from Latin fātum, prophecy, doom, from neuter past participle of fārī, to speak; see bhā-2 in Indo-European roots.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fate
fate
c.1374, from L. fata, neut. pl. of fatum "thing spoken (by the gods), one's destiny," from neut. pp. of fari "to speak," from PIE *bha- "speak" (see fame). The L. sense evolution is from "sentence of the Gods" (Gk. theosphaton), subsequently "lot, portion" (Gk. moira, personified as a goddess in Homer), later "one of the three goddesses (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) who determined the course of a human life."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| fate | |
noun | |
| 1. | an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future [syn: destiny] |
| 2. | the ultimate agency regarded as predetermining the course of events (often personified as a woman); "we are helpless in the face of destiny" [syn: destiny] |
| 3. | your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you); "whatever my fortune may be"; "deserved a better fate"; "has a happy lot"; "the luck of the Irish"; "a victim of circumstances"; "success that was her portion" [syn: fortune] |
verb | |
| 1. | decree or designate beforehand; "She was destined to become a great pianist" [syn: destine] |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This
fate
In addition to the idioms beginning with fate, also see seal one's fate; tempt fate.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This
Fate, TX (city, FIPS 25572) Location: 32.94079 N, 96.38629 W
Population (1990): 475 (176 housing units)
Area: 10.9 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Fate
Fate\, n. [L. fatum a prophetic declaration, oracle, what is ordained by the gods, destiny, fate, fr. fari to speak: cf. OF. fat. See Fame, Fable, Ban, and cf. 1st Fay, Fairy.]1. A fixed decree by which the order of things is prescribed; the immutable law of the universe; inevitable necessity; the force by which all existence is determined and conditioned. Necessity and chance Approach not me; and what I will is fate. --Milton. Beyond and above the Olympian gods lay the silent, brooding, everlasting fate of which victim and tyrant were alike the instruments. --Froude. 2. Appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death. The great, th'important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome. --Addison. Our wills and fates do so contrary run That our devices still are overthrown. --Shak. The whizzing arrow sings, And bears thy fate, Antinous, on its wings. --Pope. 3. The element of chance in the affairs of life; the unforeseen and unestimated conitions considered as a force shaping events; fortune; esp., opposing circumstances against which it is useless to struggle; as, fate was, or the fates were, against him. A brave man struggling in the storms of fate. --Pope. Sometimes an hour of Fate's serenest weather strikes through our changeful sky its coming beams. --B. Taylor. 4. pl. [L. Fata, pl. of fatum.] (Myth.) The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, sometimes called the Destinies, or Parc[ae]who were supposed to determine the course of human life. They are represented, one as holding the distaff, a second as spinning, and the third as cutting off the thread. Note: Among all nations it has been common to speak of fate or destiny as a power superior to gods and men -- swaying all things irresistibly. This may be called the fate of poets and mythologists. Philosophical fate is the sum of the laws of the universe, the product of eternal intelligence and the blind properties of matter. Theological fate represents Deity as above the laws of nature, and ordaining all things according to his will -- the expression of that will being the law. --Krauth-Fleming. Syn: Destiny; lot; doom; fortune; chance.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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