fatal
/ˈfeɪ.təl/[ˈfeɪ.ɾɫ̩]
fatal adjective: proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.
Adjective
fatal (comparative more fatal, superlative most fatal)
- Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.
- She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court
- Synonyms:
- inevitable, necessary, avoidless, certain, foregone, impreventable, ineluctable, inescapable, inexorable, irresistible
- Foreboding death or great disaster.
- Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which...1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- inauspicious, portentous, augurous, baleful, bodeful, boding, dire, disastrous, divine, foreboding
- Causing death or destruction.
- a fatal wound; a fatal disease; that fatal day; a fatal mistake
- Author Rita Mae Brown consistently strings together short comical movie clips which may be fine for screenplays but fatal in novels. Unfortunately, Toder chooses to imitate this model and her story suffers.1980 December 6, Cindy Rizzo, “Jewish, Lesbian, Feminist, Psychologist, Author--All of the above and more”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 9
- Synonyms:
- calamitous, deadly, destructive, lethal, mortal, terminal, apocalyptic, cataclysmal, cataclysmic, catastrophic
- Causing a sudden end to the running of a program.
- a fatal error; a fatal exception
Noun
fatal (plural fatals)
- A fatality; an event that leads to death.
- another fatal on the turnpike during rush hour
- For this same period there have been four fatals and 44 nonfatals in gassy mines.1969, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education, Hearings, page 90
- A fatal error; a failure that causes a program to terminate.
fatal meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
fatal in Tamil
- உயிர்ச்சேதம்
fatal in Marathi
- fatal
- प्राणघातक prāṇghātak
fatal in Urdu
- جان لیوا, مہلک, قاتل
fatal in Bengali
- মারাত্মক, প্রাণনাশক, সর্বনাশা, নিয়তিসূচক, ভাগ্যসূচক, নিয়তিমূলক
More languagesFewer languages
- fatal in Telugu
- ప్రాణాంతకం
- fatal in Malayalam
- മാരകമായ, വിനാശകരമായ, നിർണ്ണായകമായ, വിധികല്പിതം
- fatal in Kannada
- ಮಾರಕ, ಸಾವು ತರುವ, ಅಂತಕ, ನಾಶಕಾರಕ
- fatal in Odia
- ପ୍ରାଣଘାତକ
- fatal in Nepali
- प्राणघातक
- fatal in Arabic
- مُمِيت mumīt, قَاتِل qātil
- fatal in Indonesian
- fatal
Examples of fatal in a sentence
- Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing.1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
- Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident.2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:
- For this reason, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that spinach be cooked at 160º for 15 seconds, which kills potentially fatal bacteria.2021 July 1, Gregory McNamee, “Does spinach make you strong? Ask Popeye – and science”, in CNN, archived from the original on 11 Jun 2025:
- The best accident rate in general aviation is in corporate/executive flying at 0.17 per 100000 hours for fatals and .50 for total accidents.1999 April, Flying Magazine, volume 126, number 4, page 15:
Synonyms of fatal
- inevitable
- necessary
- certain
- foregone
- impreventable
- ineluctable
- inescapable
- inexorable
- irresistible
- natural
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- predictable
- unavoidable
- unforestallable
- unescapable
- unpreventable
- inauspicious
- portentous
- augurous
- baleful
- bodeful
- boding
- dire
- disastrous
- foreboding
- ill-boding
- ill-fated
- ill-omened
- ill-starred
- ominous
- brooding
- presageful
- presagious
- sinister
- star-crossed
- calamitous
- deadly
- destructive
- lethal
- mortal
- terminal
Forms of fatal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more fatal |
| superlative | most fatal |
| Noun | |
| plural | fatals |
Origin of fatal
From Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).
Words formed from fatal
Phrases with fatal
Words that rhyme with fatal
Questions about fatal
- What does fatal mean?
- Fatal means proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.
- What is fatal in Tamil?
- Fatal in Tamil is உயிர்ச்சேதம். See Fatal meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use fatal in a sentence?
- Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing.
- What part of speech is fatal?
- Fatal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce fatal?
- Fatal is pronounced /ˈfeɪ.təl/.
Words near fatal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fatal (page history and authors); fatal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); प्राणघातक (Marathi) (page history and authors); fatal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fatal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fatal (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fatal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fatal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fatal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fatal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-fatal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fatal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fatal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.