fatal four

American  

[fayt-l fawr] / ˈfeɪt l ˈfɔr /

noun

1. the four leading causes of or factors related to death in a given industry or activity (sometimes used attributively).

   This seminar will cover how to identify and avoid the fatal four construction hazards.

   When it comes to driving safely, make sure you avoid the fatal four—driving under the influence, driving too fast, using a cellphone, or not wearing a seatbelt.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fatal four

The researchers examined tumor samples from 16 children, including four whose cancers lacked the fusion marker but proved fatal, four with fusion-positive tumors, and eight children with fusion-negative disease who remained alive.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026

Little Fyne’s flight of fancy picturing three people in the fatal four wheeler—you remember?—went wide of the truth. 

From Chance A Tale in Two Parts by Joseph Conrad

He easily outstripped the Somerset slip, who was rather a stout man, and fled like a hare after the little red devil that was scorching fast in search of the fatal four.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, June 24, 1914 by Sir Owen Seaman

"Heaven send it may be before these fatal four days are over!" answered Leyton; "for then the matter will be decided and Edith delivered."

From The Smuggler: (Vol's I-III) A Tale by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James

Can they by it purchase a sponge that will wipe out from the year the past fatal four months of my life?*

From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 7 by Samuel Richardson

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