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fatal
[ feyt-l ]
adjective
a fatal accident;
a fatal dose of poison.
Antonyms: life-giving
- causing destruction, misfortune, ruin, or failure:
The withdrawal of funds was fatal to the project.
Synonyms: devastating, catastrophic, calamitous, disastrous, ruinous
- decisively important; fateful:
The fatal day finally arrived.
- proceeding from or decreed by fate; inevitable:
a fatal series of events.
- influencing or concerned with fate; fatalistic.
- Obsolete. condemned by fate; doomed.
- Obsolete. prophetic.
fatal
/ ˈfeɪtəl /
adjective
- resulting in or capable of causing death
a fatal accident
- bringing ruin; disastrous
- decisively important; fateful
- decreed by fate; destined; inevitable
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Other Words From
- fatal·ness noun
- non·fatal adjective
- non·fatal·ly adverb
- non·fatal·ness noun
- quasi-fatal adjective
- quasi-fatal·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of fatal1
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Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
Fairfax County police are searching for a suspect believed to have fled the scene of a fatal shooting in Reston on Wednesday afternoon.
We found that fatal crashes were occurring all over the country.
I was impressed not just with her work as a doctor but her zeal for busting open the paradigm for a cancer that is particularly hard to detect, hard to treat, and therefore often fatal.
Roessler’s tenure in Fairfax was marked by the fatal 2013 shooting of John Geer and, more recently, the anger over police practices across the country that was sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
If you can recognize the sequence, you and a better chance of resisting the impulse to take those next potentially fatal steps.
Nor should we ever assume that weather alone, however extreme, should be fatal to a commercial flight.
Two years ago, a Party apparatchik surveyed the site of a fatal traffic accident… with a smile on his face.
They are mean, unhappy and inspired only by their fatal selfishness.
According to a police source, that fax came in at 2:46 p.m.—literally a after before the fatal bullets flew.
Another American officer, Capt. Edwin Glenn, was convicted of cruelty in a non-fatal turn-of-the-century case in the Philippines.
It is here that the Communist regime in Russia has encountered its most fatal difficulty.
It was a fatal error, for though the Spanish people might despise their King, they were intensely proud of their nationality.
When there wanted only a week to the fatal day, Michael's hope of meeting the note of hand was slighter than ever.
That is a very lofty, poetical, and gratifying conception, but it is open to one fatal objection—it is not true.
The meeting took place within twenty-four hours; unfortunately the result was fatal.
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More About Fatal
What does fatal mean?
Fatal literally means deadly—capable of causing death.
Similar words are deadly, lethal, and mortal—though they are often used in different ways.
Fatal can also be used in a figurative way to mean capable of causing the destruction, ruin, or failure of someone or something, as in Failing to update their products proved to be a fatal mistake for the company.
Example: These changes will hopefully greatly reduce the number of fatal car accidents that occur on highways.
Where does fatal come from?
The first records of fatal in English come from the second half of the 1300s. It comes from the Latin fātālis, meaning “of fate.” Fatal was originally used in English to refer to things affected or doomed by fate—and it can still be used this way, though it is uncommon. It wasn’t until around the 1500s that fatal started to be used to refer to things that can cause death or ruin.
Most commonly, fatal is applied to things that can cause death, such as a fatal dose of drugs, or things that have resulted in death, such as a fatal accident. A mistake can be described as fatal if it literally causes someone to die. But the phrase fatal mistake more often refers to something that caused the destruction of something, as in The chaotic press conference ended up being fatal to the campaign.
Fatal can mean “fateful,” but this is much less commonly used than its other senses. However, it is used in this way in the term fatalism, referring to a belief that everything is inevitable and determined by fate. Someone with such a view can be described as fatalistic.
Did you know ... ?
What are some other forms related to fatal?
- fatally (adverb)
- nonfatally (adverb)
- fatalness (noun)
- nonfatal (adjective)
- nonfatalness (noun)
What are some synonyms for fatal?
What are some words that share a root or word element with fatal?
What are some words that often get used in discussing fatal?
How is fatal used in real life?
Fatal is most often used in a literal (and very serious) way to refer to something that caused or can cause death.
One of the men accused in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery was involved in a previous prosecution of Arbery, according to a letter written by a prosecutor who has since recused himself from the case https://t.co/1JrUCUckQw
— CNN (@CNN) May 9, 2020
MORE: For context, this is considered a fatal dose of fentanyl – approx. 2.5 milligrams.
Fentanyl is 50-100 times more powerful than morphine, and highly addictive.
Experts says users are seeking out dealers who’ve caused fatal overdoses all in order to secure a stronger high. pic.twitter.com/Uz5gaseseQ
— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) August 3, 2018
Remember that success isn’t final, failure isn’t fatal. It’s the courage to continue that counts 🦍
— Burna Boy (@burnaboy) January 17, 2020
Try using fatal!
Which of the following words is NOT a synonym for fatal?
A. lethal
B. deadly
C. trivial
D. ruinous
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