fatal

fatal
fatalness, n.
/fayt"l/, adj.
1. causing or capable of causing death; mortal; deadly: a fatal accident; a fatal dose of poison.
2. causing destruction, misfortune, ruin, or failure: The withdrawal of funds was fatal to the project.
3. decisively important; fateful: The fatal day finally arrived.
4. proceeding from or decreed by fate; inevitable: a fatal series of events.
5. influencing or concerned with fate; fatalistic.
6. Obs. doomed.
7. Obs. prophetic.
[1350-1400; ME ( < OF) < L fatalis of fate. See FATE, -AL1]
Syn. 1. FATAL, DEADLY, LETHAL, MORTAL apply to something that has caused or is capable of causing death. FATAL may refer to either the future or the past; in either case, it emphasizes inevitability and the inescapable - the disastrous, whether death or dire misfortune: The accident was fatal. Such a mistake would be fatal.
DEADLY looks to the future, and suggests that which is likely to cause death (though not inevitably so): a deadly poison, disease. Like DEADLY, LETHAL looks to the future but, like many other words of Latin origin, suggests a more technical usage: a lethal dose; a gas that is lethal. MORTAL looks to the past and refers to death that has actually occurred: He received a mortal wound. The disease proved to be mortal. 2. ruinous, disastrous, calamitous, catastrophic, devastating. 4. predestined, foreordained.
Ant. 1. life-giving.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • fatal — fatal …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • fatal — fatal, ale [ fatal ] adj. • XIVe; lat. fatalis, de fatum « destin » 1 ♦ Du destin; fixé, marqué par le destin. Le moment, l instant fatal. ⇒ fatidique. « Cette grande figure une et multiple, lugubre et rayonnante, fatale et sacrée, l Homme »… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • fatal — fatal, ale (fa tal, ta l ) adj. 1°   Qui porte avec soi une destinée irrévocable. Le tison fatal de Méléagre. •   Vint enfin le moment du festin fatal de la reine [Esther], dont le favori [Aman] s était tant enorgueilli, BOSSUET Polit. X, III, 5 …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • fatal — fa·tal adj 1: causing failure of a legal claim or cause of action a fatal defect in the proceedings W. R. LaFave and J. H. Israel 2: making something (as a contract) invalid or unenforceable there is a fatal indefiniteness with the result that… …   Law dictionary

  • fatal — adjetivo 1. (antepuesto / pospuesto) Que causa desgracia o que perjudica a una persona o a una cosa: Una recaída en su enfermedad podría ser fatal. Ha sufrido un accidente fatal, ha muerto. Has tomado una decisión de fatales consecuencias. Se… …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

  • fatal — FATAL, [fat]ale. adj. Qui porte avec soy une destinée inévitable. Le cheveu fatal de Nisus. le dard fatal de Cephale. le tison fatal de Meleagre. le nom des Scipions estoit fatal à l Afrique. sort fatal. destin fatal. loy fatale. decret fatal.… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • fatal — FATÁL, Ă, fatali, e, adj. 1. Care are urmări nenorocite pentru cineva sau ceva; care pricinuieşte moartea; funest. Greşeală fatală. Lovitură fatală. ♦ Nefericit, nenorocit, trist. Deznodământ fatal. 2. Care se consideră că este fixat de destin;… …   Dicționar Român

  • fatal — fatal, fateful Both words have to do with the workings of fate, and their complex histories, fully explored by the OED, have often intertwined. Fowler (1926) wrote a fond defence of the special meaning of fateful, ‘having far reaching… …   Modern English usage

  • Fatal — Fa tal, a. [L. fatalis, fr. fatum: cf. F. fatal. See {Fate}.] 1. Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny; necessary; inevitable. [R.] [1913 Webster] These thing are fatal and necessary. Tillotson. [1913 Webster] It was fatal to the king …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fatal — may refer to:* Redirect to Death * Fatal (Hussein Fatal album) * Fatal Recordings, a feminist record label * Fatal (rapper), a rapper who collaborated with the band Therapy? on the song Come and Die from the soundtrack to the film Judgment Night… …   Wikipedia

  • fatal — Adj verhängnisvoll erw. stil. (16. Jh., Form 17. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus l. fātālis verderbenbringend , einer Ableitung von l. fātum Mißgeschick, Lebensschicksal, Weissagespruch (selten auch deutsch Fatum), zu l. fārī sprechen . Die ältere… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

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