Definition

1. 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.

Usage and Examples

• 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.

Advanced Usage

• "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.

Variants and Related Words

• 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.

Synonyms

• 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.

Antonyms

• Insignificant: Too small or unimportant to be worth consideration.
• Inconsequential: Not important or significant.
• Fortunate: Favored by or involving good luck; lucky.

Idioms and Phrases

• 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.

Adjective

1. controlled or decreed by fate; predetermined
   • a fatal series of events
2. (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
3. ominously prophetic
4. 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