fatal Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective bringing death
  2. adjective satellite having momentous consequences; of decisive importance
    fateful.
    • that fateful meeting of the U.N. when...it declared war on North Korea"- Saturday Rev
    • the fatal day of the election finally arrived
  3. adjective satellite (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin
    calamitous; disastrous; black; fateful.
    • 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
  4. adjective satellite controlled or decreed by fate; predetermined
    fateful.
    • a fatal series of events

WordNet

Fa"tal adjective
Etymology
L. fatalis, fr. fatum: cf. F. fatal. See Fate.
Definitions
  1. Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny; necessary; inevitable. R.
    These thing are fatal and necessary. Tillotson.
    It was fatal to the king to fight for his money. Bacon.
  2. Foreboding death or great disaster. R.
    That fatal screech owl to our house That nothing sung but death to us and ours. Shak.
  3. Causing death or destruction; deadly; mortal; destructive; calamitous; as, a fatal wound; a fatal disease; a fatal day; a fatal error.

Webster 1913