fatalist

American  

[feyt-l-ist] / ˈfeɪt l ɪst /

noun

1. a person who believes that all events are inevitable, so one’s choices and actions make no difference.

   Protest or not, the odds seem stacked against the likelihood of change, so should we be fatalists and go off to the beach instead?

2. Philosophy. a person who advances the idea that all events are naturally predetermined or subject to fate.

   Despite his teaching that class conflict is inevitable, observers contend that Marx was not a fatalist about historical change.

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adjective

1. Rare. fatalistic.

Etymology

Origin of fatalist

First recorded in 1640–50; fatal(ism) ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )

Example Sentences

But Perkins hops so quickly from one outrageous death to another that his screenplay leaves little room for rumination amid his constant fatalist sermonizing.

From Salon

But I'm not a fatalist; if I were, I wouldn’t have written this book or spent my life trying to protect our country.

From Salon

“This area has the lifestyle we like and the values we like,” he said, taking a fatalist view of natural hazards.

From Seattle Times

But Dubus is no fatalist; we are on a difficult journey of redemption.

From Los Angeles Times

As much as Rockwell astutely limns how lives are shaped by forces out of their control, she’s no fatalist: She gives Inez and Terry their happy ending, as hard-won and ambiguous as it is.

From Washington Post