fatality

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

noun

plural

fatalities 

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.

fatality

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• nonfatality noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of fatality¹

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

Example Sentences

Police announced the death toll in a news conference on Sunday, cautioning that they "cannot rule out the possibility of further fatalities".

Read more on BBC

Such crashes have accounted for a stubbornly high share of commercial aviation fatalities over the past three decades, as flying has become increasingly safe.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Hardly a climbing season goes by without at least one fatality, according to the New Zealand alpine club ClimbNZ.

Read more on BBC

The Pew study pored over residential fire deaths across New York City in 2012-24 and found that the fatality rate in single-stair buildings was both low and equal to other residential structures.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"They sat in a building inhaling fatal levels of carbon monoxide which we have been told but for 'sheer luck' there was no fatalities due to the high level of CO detected," she said.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• accident 
• casualty 
• disaster 
• mortality