fatality

American  

[fay-tal-i-tee, fuh-] / feɪˈtæl ɪ ti, fə- /

noun

• fatalities
  plural

1. a disaster resulting in death.

2. a death resulting from such an occurrence.

   a rise in highway fatalities.

3. the quality of causing death or disaster; a fatal influence; deadliness.

4. predetermined liability to disaster, misfortune, etc..

   a fatality for saying the wrong thing.

5. the quality of being predetermined by or subject to fate.

   There is a fatality in human affairs that leads to destruction.

6. the fate or destiny of a person or thing.

   Death is the ultimate fatality of all human beings.

7. a fixed, unalterably predetermined course of things; inevitability.

   to resign oneself to the fatality of life.

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fatality British  

/ fəˈtælɪtɪ /

noun

1. an accident or disaster resulting in death

2. a person killed in an accident or disaster

3. the power of causing death or disaster; deadliness

4. the quality or condition of being fated

5. something caused or dictated by fate

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonfatality
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fatalities
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fatality

From the Late Latin word fātālitās, dating back to 1480–90. See fatal, -ity

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Explanation

If you hear on your car radio that there has been a traffic accident up ahead with one fatality, you should be very thankful you were not involved. A fatality is, quite simply and grimly, a human death. You will often hear fatality used in conjunction with the aftermath of a disaster, natural or otherwise. For example, a news broadcaster may say, "We have received reports of at least one fatality as a result of the storm." Fatality has its roots in the Latin word fatalis, meaning "decreed by fate." When it comes to fatality, being in the wrong place at the wrong time can certainly be ill-fated.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fatality fatalities

The illness is highly fatal, with average fatality rates approaching 100%.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

"How there has not been a fatality is only by a miracle," he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

An Italian restaurant in Manhattan, Il Punto, said the woman Sara Sanchez, was the wife of one of its employees, and that their baby Antonella Garcia was the second fatality.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

In February, a pedestrian became the latest Malibu fatality along an area of PCH near Point Dume.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Other episodes of mass fatality are abundantly documented: the Black Death in Europe, the post-collectivization famine in the Soviet Union, even the traffic in African slaves.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

The fatalities include a 45-year-old man dying from an apparent heart attack after riding the Goliath in 2006, said the Doan Law Firm.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

The California Department of Public Health reports that West Nile virus activity in the state, which is transmitted from infected mosquitoes, has reached a five-year high, with over 250 cases to date and 19 fatalities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries for older adults and result in around 43,000 fatalities every year.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

“The circumstances of several fatalities suggest that some individuals may not have been aware of the fire’s proximity or their evacuation status,” the report found.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

And yet traffic fatalities continued to be a tenacious problem.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

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Related Words

• accident
• casualty
• disaster
• mortality

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