fatal
64
3.9
- adjective
- /ˈfeɪtəl/
:
fatal
- And did you know that was a fatal blow right away?
- a fatal flaw
- a fatal mistake
- a fatal error
Don't let that one fatal flaw hit you.
- Don't let that one fatal flaw hit you.
- This is what would be considered a fatal unforced error.
- But then I made the fatal error that no one should ever make.
- First, the Case Shiller index has two fatal flaws with it.
- Yet such a strength was also a fatal flaw.
- And that was sort of my fatal flaw in that moment and in the moments afterwards.
- Some of them will come down to AI systems that have some fatal flaws.
- I think the proportion of good stuff went up, but it had a couple of fatal flaws in it that were painful.
- Now that is a problem, but it isn't fatal.
- Remember, fighting need not be fatal.
- And, and, and not recognizing and not dealing with what's going on is can have fatal consequences.
- That's, that's, that's fatal, you know, as though it's gone, as though it's behind us.
Examples
-
I understand you are upset over the death of your wife, but that's no excuse for making another fatal mistake.
-
But you made a fatal mistake.
-
But then I made the fatal error that no one should ever make.
-
And those mistakes can sometimes be fatal.
-
The conquest of Mexico was the fatal result of the meeting of two worlds.
-
Assuming a "build them and they will come" posture would be a fatal mistake.
Academic text (2011) -
When such competing forces co-exist, there must be a fatal struggle between them.
Academic text (1992) -
His son Quentin was in prison due to a fatal drunk-driving charge.
Fiction book (2000) -
The solution to socialist governance was to expose its fatal flaws and replace it.
Academic text (2011) -
The car accident had a fatal outcome, resulting in the driver's death.
Synonyms
543
2.8
Able to cause death or serious harm
224
5.1
Causing very great damage or sadness
193
4.8
Able to cause death, for example by a weapon or poison
144
7.0
Causing very great damage or harm
126
3.5
Causing very great harm, suffering, or failure
48
6.5
Very important for the future and often causing bad results
22
9.1
Causing sudden very great damage to people, buildings or land
10
7.0
Causing very serious harm to people or businesses
6
7.9
An event that causes great harm or loss
Causing very large, sudden destruction that changes a place
Antonyms
Compounds
How Serious
Surface Forms
Morphology
fatal = fat + al
Although it shares historical material with fate, the modern sense 'causing disaster or serious consequences' is a semantic extension that learners cannot reliably derive from the component parts.
Etymology
Fatal comes from the Latin fatum, which means 'fate' and is the idea of a result you cannot change. That sense of a final decision is why fatal can mean 'causing disaster' or a mistake that decides everything.