fate
Noun:
- The predetermined course of events; destiny: The idea that events are decided in advance by a supernatural power or inevitable force.
- The ultimate outcome or condition of a person or thing; one's lot in life: The final, often unavoidable result or state, especially for a person, considered as if decreed by fate.
- (Capitalized, often 'the Fates'): In classical mythology, the three goddesses (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) who control human destiny.
Verb:
- To predetermine or decree (something) as if by fate; to destine: To fix the future of something or someone in an unalterable way.
Noun:
- They believed their meeting was not an accident but fate. (They believed it was destined to happen.)
- He accepted his fate with quiet dignity. (He accepted his unavoidable situation.)
- The Fates were said to spin, measure, and cut the thread of life.
Verb (often used in passive voice):
- From the beginning, he seemed fated for greatness. (He seemed destined for greatness from the start.)
- The project was fated to fail from its inception. (It was doomed to fail from the beginning.)
"A fate worse than death": A terrible and unacceptable outcome or experience.
- In the old story, capture was considered a fate worse than death.
"To tempt fate": To act in a way that risks causing something bad to happen.
- Not wearing a seatbelt is tempting fate.
"Seal someone's fate": To make a negative outcome for someone certain.
- His testimony sealed the defendant's fate.
Fatal (adj): Causing death; leading to failure or disaster.
- a fatal accident; a fatal error
Fatalism (n): The belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable.
- He faced the crisis with a sense of fatalism.
Fatalistic (adj): Showing a belief in fatalism.
- a fatalistic attitude
Fateful (adj): Having important, often negative, consequences; controlled by fate.
- a fateful decision
- Destiny: The predetermined course of events, often with a sense of a positive or meaningful future.
- Doom: Terrible fate or destiny, especially one involving death, destruction, or failure.
- Lot: One's share or portion in life; fortune.
- Providence: The protective care of God or nature as a spiritual power; divine guidance.
As fate would have it: Used to say that something happened, often surprisingly, as if planned by fate.
- As fate would have it, we ended up on the same flight.
Leave to fate: To allow events to happen without trying to control them.
- We've done all we can; now we must leave it to fate.
A twist of fate: An unexpected change in a situation.
- By a strange twist of fate, he bought the house he was born in.
To meet one's fate: To experience the death or end that was destined.
- The hero met his fate bravely.
- your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)
- whatever my fortune may be
- deserved a better fate
- has a happy lot
- the luck of the Irish
- a victim of circumstances
- success that was her portion
- the ultimate agency regarded as predetermining the course of events (often personified as a woman)
- we are helpless in the face of destiny
- an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future
- decree or designate beforehand
- She was destined to become a great pianist