English Explanatory Dictionary

fatal

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.
  2. Foreboding death or great disaster.
  3. Causing death or destruction.
  4. Causing a sudden end to the running of a program.
noun
  1. A fatality; an event that leads to death.
  2. A fatal error; a failure that causes a program to terminate.

Pronunciation

/ˈfeɪ.təl/ [ˈfeɪ.ɾɫ̩] en-us-fatal.ogg

Word forms

fatal more fatal most fatal fatals

Etymology

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

Synonyms

inevitable necessary avoidless certain fatal foregone impreventable ineluctable inescapable inexorable irresistible natural predictable unavoidable unforestallable unescapable unpreventable inauspicious portentous augurous baleful bodeful boding dire disastrous divine foreboding ill-boding ill-fated ill-omened ill-starred inauspicate nefastous omenic ominous brooding presageful presagious prodigious sinister star-crossed sullen calamitous deadly destructive lethal mortal terminal apocalyptic cataclysmal cataclysmic catastrophic debacular devastating disadventurous eradicative extirpative harmful pernicious ruinous

Derived words

fatal attraction fatal familial insomnia fatalism fatalist fatalistic fatality fatalize fatally fatalness fatal system error homme fatal non-fatal nonfatal nonfatally unfatal
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