fatal

Etymology

From Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪ.təl/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈfeɪ.ɾɫ̩]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtəl

Adjective

fatal (not comparable)

1. (rare, archaic) Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.

   Synonyms: inevitable, necessary; see also Thesaurus:inevitable

   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:

     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.

2. (rare, archaic) Foreboding death or great disaster.

   Synonyms: inauspicious, portentous; see also Thesaurus:ominous

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     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 all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.

3. Causing death or destruction.

   Synonyms: calamitous, deadly, destructive, lethal, mortal, terminal; see also Thesaurus:disastrous

   a fatal wound; a fatal disease; that fatal day; a fatal mistake

   • 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:

     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.

   • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:

     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. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

4. (computing) Causing a sudden end to the running of a program.

   a fatal error; a fatal exception

Noun

fatal (plural fatals)

1. A fatality; an event that leads to death.
   • 1969, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education, Hearings, page 90:

     For this same period there have been four fatals and 44 nonfatals in gassy mines.

   • 1999 April, Flying Magazine, volume 126, number 4, page 15:

     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.

2. (computing) A fatal error; a failure that causes a program to terminate.

Anagrams

• A-flat, Falta, aflat, A flat, a-flat, a flat

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [fəˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [faˈtal]
• Homophone: (Balearic,Central) fetal
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

fatal m or f (masculine and feminine plural fatals)

1. fatal

Further reading

• “fatal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “fatal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “fatal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “fatal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Etymology

From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fataːl/, [faˈtˢæːˀl]

Adjective

fatal

1. fatal

   Synonym: skæbnesvanger

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.tal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

fatal (feminine fatale, masculine plural fatals, feminine plural fatales)

1. fatal (due to fate)
2. fatal (causing death)

Further reading

• “fatal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Etymology

17th century, from Latin fātālis, in part through French fatal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faˈtaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

fatal (strong nominative masculine singular fataler, comparative fataler, superlative am fatalsten)

1. fatal, having serious consequences, severe

   Synonyms: verhängnisvoll, folgenschwer, schwer, ernst, gravierend

2. (dated) embarrassing, awkward, causing predicament

   Synonyms: misslich, peinlich, unangenehm

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch fataal, from Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfatal]
• Hyphenation: fa‧tal

Adjective

fatal

1. fatal
   1. causing death or destruction

      Synonym: celaka

   2. proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny; inevitable

Further reading

• “fatal” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.