fateful
- Adjective:
- Having important, often negative, consequences; decisive: Describing an event, decision, or moment that is very significant because it leads to major, often unfortunate, outcomes.
- Controlled by or revealing fate; prophetic: Suggesting that events are predetermined by destiny or ominously foretelling future events.
- Bringing death or disaster; fatal: Causing ruin or extremely unfortunate results.
As an adjective describing a momentous event:
- The ambassador's fateful decision to deliver the ultimatum led to a declaration of war.
- They met on that fateful day in April, which changed both of their lives forever.
As an adjective meaning ominous or prophetic:
- His fateful words, "we shall meet again," echoed in her mind for years.
- The general had a fateful premonition about the upcoming battle.
As an adjective meaning disastrous:
- The pilot's fateful error resulted in the crash of the aircraft.
- The treaty contained a fateful flaw that would later cause it to collapse.
"a fateful choice/decision/moment": A choice, decision, or moment that has very significant, often grave, consequences.
- Making a fateful choice under pressure can define one's entire future.
"a fateful encounter/meeting": A meeting between people that leads to profoundly important changes.
- The fateful encounter between the two scientists led to a groundbreaking discovery.
Fate (n): The development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power; destiny.
- He believed it was his fate to become a soldier.
Fatal (adj): Causing death; leading to failure or disaster.
- The driver suffered fatal injuries in the accident.
- A fatal mistake in the software code caused the system to fail.
Fatality (n): An occurrence of death by accident, in war, or from disease.
- The earthquake resulted in many fatalities.
- Decisive: Settling an issue; producing a definite result.
- Momentous: Of great importance or significance, especially in its bearing on the future.
- Dire: Extremely serious or urgent; (of consequences) disastrous.
- Ominous: Giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threatening.
- Insignificant: Too small or unimportant to be worth consideration.
- Inconsequential: Not important or significant.
- Fortunate: Favored by or involving good luck; lucky.
A fateful day/night: A specific day or night on which something very important and often bad happened.
- They left the city on that fateful night before the invasion began.
Seal someone's fate: To make it certain that someone will experience a particular, usually bad, future.
- The testimony of the key witness sealed the defendant's fate.
- controlled or decreed by fate; predetermined
- a fatal series of events
- (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
- ominously prophetic
- 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