fa·tal

(fāt′l)

adj.

1. Causing or capable of causing death.

2. Causing ruin or destruction; disastrous: "Such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory" (Charles Darwin).

3. Of decisive importance; fateful: came through at the fatal moment.

4. Concerning or determining one's fate: the fatal thread of life.

5. Obsolete Having been destined; fated.

[Middle English, fateful, from Old French, from Latin fātālis, from fātum, prophecy, doom; see fate.]

Synonyms: fatal, deadly, lethal, mortal
These adjectives apply to what causes or is likely to cause death. Fatal describes conditions, circumstances, or events that have already caused death or are virtually certain to do so in the future: a fatal accident; a fatal illness.
Deadly means capable of killing or of being used to kill: a deadly poison; a deadly weapon.
Lethal has a similar range, often with a suggestion of deliberate or calculated intent: execution by lethal injection; the lethal technology of modern warfare.
Mortal describes a condition or action that produces death, typically in a context of combat: a mortal wound; delivered a mortal blow.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fatal

(ˈfeɪtəl)

adj

1. resulting in or capable of causing death: a fatal accident.

2. bringing ruin; disastrous

3. decisively important; fateful

4. decreed by fate; destined; inevitable

[C14: from Old French fatal or Latin fātālis, from fātum, see fate]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fa•tal

(ˈfeɪt l)

adj.

1. causing or capable of causing death; mortal; deadly.

2. causing destruction, misfortune, or ruin; calamitous: The closing of the plant was fatal to the town.

3. decisively important; fateful: The fatal hour was near.

4. proceeding from fate; inevitable: a fatal series of events.

5. pertaining to or concerned with fate.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Latin]

fa′tal•ness, n.

syn: fatal, deadly, lethal, mortal apply to something that has caused or is capable of causing death or dire misfortune. fatal may refer to the future or the past; in either case, it emphasizes inevitability or inescapable consequences: a fatal illness; fatal errors. deadly refers to the future, and suggests something that causes death by its very nature, or has death as its purpose: a deadly disease; a deadly poison. lethal is usu. used in technical contexts: Carbon monoxide is a lethal gas. mortal usu. refers to death that has actually occurred: He received a mortal blow.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	fatal - bringing death nonfatal - not bringing death; "nonfatal heart attack"
	2.	fatal - having momentous consequences; of decisive importance; "that fateful meeting of the U.N. when...it declared war on North Korea"- Saturday Rev; "the fatal day of the election finally arrived" fateful decisive - determining or having the power to determine an outcome; "cast the decisive vote"; "two factors had a decisive influence"
	3.	fatal - (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin; "the stock market crashed on Black Friday"; "a calamitous defeat"; "the battle was a disastrous end to a disastrous campaign"; "such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory"- Charles Darwin; "it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it"- Douglas MacArthur; "a fateful error" calamitous, disastrous, fateful, black unfortunate - not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune; "an unfortunate turn of events"; "an unfortunate decision"; "unfortunate investments"; "an unfortunate night for all concerned"
	4.	fatal - controlled or decreed by fate; predetermined; "a fatal series of events" fateful inevitable - incapable of being avoided or prevented; "the inevitable result"

fatal

adjective

1. disastrous, devastating, crippling, lethal, catastrophic, ruinous, calamitous, baleful, baneful It dealt a fatal blow to his chances.
disastrous minor, inconsequential

2. decisive, final, determining, critical, crucial, fateful putting off that fatal moment

3. lethal, deadly, mortal, causing death, final, killing, terminal, destructive, malignant, incurable, pernicious She had suffered a fatal heart attack.
lethal beneficial, harmless, benign, wholesome, innocuous, salutary, non-toxic, inoffensive, non-lethal, vitalizing

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

fatal

adjective

1. So critically decisive as to affect the future:

fateful, momentous.

2. Causing or tending to cause death:

deadly, deathly, lethal, mortal, vital.

3. Causing ruin or destruction:

calamitous, cataclysmal, cataclysmic, catastrophic, destructive, disastrous, fateful, ruinous.

Translations

قاتِل، فَظيعمـُمِيتمُميت، قاتِل

fatálníosudnýsmrtelný

dødeligfatalskæbnesvanger

tödlich verhängnisvoll fatal

μοιραίος

fatal fatídico mortal

kohtalokas

fatal mortel

koban

banvænnhræîilegur

fatale letale

致命的な

치명적인

fatališkas

liktenīgsnāvīgs

fataal

dødelig skjebnesvanger

fatalny

fatal

роковой

smrtenusoden

dödlig

ซึ่งทำให้ถึงตาย

ölümcültalihsizkötüöldürücü

chết người

致命的严重的

fatal

[ˈfeɪtl]

A. ADJ

1. (= causing death) [accident, injury] → mortal

2. (= disastrous) [mistake] → fatal; [consequences] → funesto (to para) it's fatal to mention that → es peligrosísimo mencionar eso

3. (= fateful) → fatídico

B. CPD fatal accident enquiry N (Scot) investigación sobre las causas de un accidente mortal

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

fatal

[ˈfeɪt^əl] adj

[mistake, step] → fatal(e)
He made a fatal mistake → Il a fait une erreur fatale.

(leading to death) [accident, stabbing] → mortel(le); [illness, heart attack] → mortel(le)
a fatal accident → un accident mortel

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

fatal

adj

(= causing death) → tödlich (to, for für); he had a fatal accident → er ist tödlich verunglückt; the illness is invariably fatal → die Krankheit verläuft immer tödlich; possibly fatal delays → Verzögerungen pl, → die möglicherweise tödliche Folgen haben werden; to prove fatal → sich als tödlich erweisen; fatal accident inquiry (Scot) → Untersuchung f → zur Unfallursache (bei Unfällen mit Todesfolge)

(fig: = disastrous) mistake, weakness, flaw, consequences → fatal, verhängnisvoll; (Comput) error → schwer; (= fateful) day, decision → verhängnisvoll; to be or prove fatal to or for somebody/something → das Ende für jdn/etw bedeuten or sein; it proved fatal to their diplomatic relations → es hatte verhängnisvolle Folgen für ihre diplomatischen Beziehungen; in the end such methods will prove fatal → solche Methoden werden sich letztendlich als verhängnisvoll herausstellen; it’s fatal to ask him, he always forgets → frag ihn bloß nicht, er vergisst es immer; it would be fatal to do that → es wäre verhängnisvoll, das zu tun; it was a fatal blow to our hopes → es hat unsere Hoffnungen zunichtegemacht; her fatal attraction for him → die unheilvolle Anziehungskraft, die sie auf ihn ausübte

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

fatal

[ˈfeɪtl] adj (injury, disease, accident) → fatale, mortale; (mistake) → fatale; (consequences, result) → disastroso/a; (influence) → nefasto/a; (fateful, words, decision) → fatidico/a
it was fatal to mention that → è stato un grave errore parlarne

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

fatal

(ˈfeitl) adjective

1. causing death. a fatal accident.

2. disastrous. She made the fatal mistake of not inviting him to the party.

ˈfatally adverb

fatality (fəˈtӕləti) – plural faˈtalities – noun

(an accident causing) death. fatalities on the roads.

fatal

→ مـُمِيت fatální fatal tödlich μοιραίος fatídico kohtalokas fatal koban fatale 致命的な 치명적인 fataal dødelig fatalny fatal роковой dödlig ซึ่งทำให้ถึงตาย ölümcül chết người 致命的

fa·tal

a. fatal.

fatal

adj mortal, fatal

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

IT was a sight that some people remembered better even than their own sorrows--the sight in that grey clear morning, when the fatal cart with the two young women in it was descried by the waiting watching multitude, cleaving its way towards the hideous symbol of a deliberately inflicted sudden death.

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The land suddenly at night looms up right over your bows, or perhaps the cry of "Broken water ahead!" is raised, and some long mistake, some complicated edifice of self-delusion, over- confidence, and wrong reasoning is brought down in a fatal shock, and the heart-searing experience of your ship's keel scraping and scrunching over, say, a coral reef.

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Recount, O Muse, the names of those who fell on this fatal day.

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Blows were struck with the lance, the sand was scattered in the air, and the shocks often seemed to be unavoidably fatal; but still each party kept his seat, and still each rein was managed with a steady hand.

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In instances where the lightning has actually struck the vessel, so as to smite down some of the spars and rigging, the effect upon the needle has at times been still more fatal; all its loadstone virtue being annihilated, so that the before magnetic steel was of no more use than an old wife's knitting needle.

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The days of Socrates are drawing to a close; the fatal ship has been seen off Sunium, as he is informed by his aged friend and contemporary Crito, who visits him before the dawn has broken; he himself has been warned in a dream that on the third day he must depart.

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I said I supposed he would wish me to act as his second, and he said, "Of course." I said I must be allowed to act under a French name, so that I might be shielded from obloquy in my country, in case of fatal results.

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"Doctor," cried Villefort, "alas, doctor, how often has man's justice been deceived by those fatal words.

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These Greek capitals, black with age, and quite deeply graven in the stone, with I know not what signs peculiar to Gothic caligraphy imprinted upon their forms and upon their attitudes, as though with the purpose of revealing that it had been a hand of the Middle Ages which had inscribed them there, and especially the fatal and melancholy meaning contained in them, struck the author deeply.

View in context

"The fact that the sun is nearly down," the Grave Person said, "is immaterial, but the fact that he did not consult his timepiece and make answer after due deliberation and consideration is fatal. The answer given," continued the Grave Person, consulting his own timepiece, "is of no effect, invalid, and absurd."

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But this critical act is not always unattended with the saddest and most fatal casualties.

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The "Thebais" seems to have begun with the origin of the fatal quarrel between Eteocles and Polyneices in the curse called down upon them by their father in his misery.

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