fatality

[fey-tal-i-tee, fuh-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fatality ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural fa·tal·i·ties.

a disaster resulting in death.

a death resulting from such an occurrence: a rise in highway fatalities.

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

predetermined liability to disaster, misfortune, etc.: a fatality for saying the wrong thing.

the quality of being predetermined by or subject to fate: There is a fatality in human affairs that leads to destruction.

the fate or destiny of a person or thing: Death is the ultimate fatality of all human beings.

a fixed, unalterably predetermined course of things; inevitability: to resign oneself to the fatality of life.

Origin of fatality

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

Related formsnon·fa·tal·i·ty, noun, plural non·fa·tal·i·ties.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fatality

accident, mortality, casualty, disaster, dying, deadliness, virulence, lethality, inevitability, necrosis, destructiveness, lethalness

Examples from the Web for fatality

Contemporary Examples of fatality

A 26-year-old man was the first fatality of the riots, found shot in his car.
Cameron: Rioters Will Pay
August 11, 2011
Keep in mind, what they've been exposed to is 0.1 rem, and about 50 percent fatality is on the order of 400 rem.
Japan Nuclear Fallout: How Bad Could It Get?
Josh Dzieza
March 12, 2011
The chances of you being on a flight with at least one fatality are 10 times greater in the loser bucket.
How Safe Is Your Airline?
Rudy Maxa
August 23, 2009

Historical Examples of fatality

What a fatality, that you have no better an option—either a Scylla or a Charybdis.
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
But if Ruffo were there, if Artois came, it would be fatality.
A Spirit in Prison
Robert Hichens
By what fatality was it that a man always chose the worst road?
Luttrell Of Arran
Charles James Lever
It is a fatality rather than a triumph to have undergone such a change.
The Industries of Animals
Frdric Houssay
The Rita that haunted me had no history; she was but the principle of life charged with fatality.
The Arrow of Gold
Joseph Conrad

British Dictionary definitions for fatality

fatality

noun plural -ties

an accident or disaster resulting in death

a person killed in an accident or disaster

the power of causing death or disaster; deadliness

the quality or condition of being fated

something caused or dictated by fate

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fatality

late 15c., "quality of causing death," from French fatalité, from Late Latin fatalitatem (nominative fatalitas), from Latin fatalis (see fatal). Senses in 16c.-17c. included "determined by fate" and "a destiny." Meaning "an occurrence resulting in widespread death" is from 1840. Related: Fatalities.

fatality in Medicine

fatality

[fā-tăl′ĭ-tē, fə-]

n.

A death resulting from an accident or disaster.

One that is killed as a result of such an occurrence.