fatal

[feyt-l]

adjective

1. causing or capable of causing death; mortal; deadly.

   a fatal accident;

   a fatal dose of poison.

   Antonyms: life-giving

2. causing destruction, misfortune, ruin, or failure.

   The withdrawal of funds was fatal to the project.

   Synonyms: devastating, catastrophic, calamitous, disastrous, ruinous

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. Obsolete.,  condemned by fate; doomed.

7. Obsolete.,  prophetic.

fatal

/ ˈfeɪtəl /

adjective

1. resulting in or capable of causing death

   a fatal accident

2. bringing ruin; disastrous

3. decisively important; fateful

4. decreed by fate; destined; inevitable

Other Word Forms

• fatalness noun
• nonfatal adjective
• nonfatally adverb
• nonfatalness noun
• quasi-fatal adjective
• quasi-fatally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of fatal¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English or directly from Old French, from Latin fātālis “ordained by fate, decreed”; fate, -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of fatal¹

C14: from Old French fatal or Latin fātālis , from fātum , see _fate

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

The doctor said the recovery period after the surgery is crucial, as infection or other complications could prove fatal for the child.

From BBC

The venue that helped launch Phoebe Bridgers couldn’t survive the fatal combination of the economic stress of the pandemic and ownership strife.

From Los Angeles Times

A total of 1,017 people suffered a fatal overdose in Scotland last year.

From BBC

Britain's marine safety body has called for a "radical rethink" over the use of ship lookouts "in the digital age" following a fatal collision in the North Sea and three other incidents.

From BBC

The death, which occurred between January and June 2025, is the first fatal case of whooping cough in the UK this year.

From BBC

Related Words

• calamitous 
• cataclysmic 
• catastrophic 
• destructive 
• disastrous 
• fateful 
• incurable 
• inevitable 
• malignant 
• mortal 
• poisonous 
• ruinous 
• virulent 

When To Use

What does fatal mean?

Fatal literally means deadly—capable of causing death.Similar words are deadly, lethal, and mortal—though they are often used in different ways.Fatal can also be used in a figurative way to mean capable of causing the destruction, ruin, or failure of someone or something, as in Failing to update their products proved to be a fatal mistake for the company. Example: These changes will hopefully greatly reduce the number of fatal car accidents that occur on highways.