fatal
4
4.3
- adjective
- /ˈfeɪtəl/
- Archaic
- And yet on the fatal afternoon she actually insisted that they left and that they enjoy themselves elsewhere.
- fatal passion
- Fatal Attraction
Examples
-
He faced a fatal decision that would change the course of his life forever.
-
The food, the drink, the flesh, fatal as they may be, he cannot resist them.
-
Now I realize I had made a mistake, not a fatal one, just a stupid one.
Fiction book (1992) -
Metaphysics bought into that, and it says that was your fatal mistake.
-
But an expert is someone who gets things done and doesn't make fatal mistakes.
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His relocation from America to England need not necessarily have been fatal.
Academic text (2009) -
Your fatal weakness.
-
It's your fatal flaw.
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Thus take heed, eternity has already marked your forehead with the fatal instant that it will begin for you.
Academic text (1992) -
So, if we go by the rule that the hero is undone by his fatal flaw, what is Heracles' flaw?
Synonyms
220
4.9
Certain to have a bad end, like failure or destruction
51
6.5
Very important for the future and often causing bad results
1
9.9
Already decided before it happens and cannot be changed, often by fate or God
Antonyms
Compounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
fatal = fat + al
The older sense 'pertaining to fate' is historically close to the root meaning, but the connection is learned and not a fully productive modern English derivation.
Etymology
Fatal comes from the Latin fatum, 'fate', which people thought of as a fixed or 'spoken' destiny. That's why fatal can also mean 'decided by fate' or 'unavoidable'.