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fate

[feyt]
See more synonyms for fate on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune; lot: It is always his fate to be left behind.
  2. the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events; time: Fate decreed that they would never meet again.
  3. that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny: Death is our ineluctable fate.
  4. a prophetic declaration of what must be: The oracle pronounced their fate.
  5. death, destruction, or ruin.
  6. the Fates, Classical Mythology. the three goddesses of destiny, known to the Greeks as the Moerae and to the Romans as the Parcae.
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verb (used with object), fat·ed, fat·ing.
  1. to predetermine, as by the decree of fate; destine (used in the passive): a person who was fated to be the savior of the country.
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Origin of fate

1325–75; Middle English < Latin fātum utterance, decree of fate, destiny, orig. neuter of fātus, past participle of fārī to speak
Can be confusedfate fete (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms

See more synonyms for fate on Thesaurus.com
1. karma, kismet; chance, luck. Fate, destiny, doom refer to the idea of a fortune, usually adverse, that is predetermined and inescapable. The three words are frequently interchangeable. Fate stresses the irrationality and impersonal character of events: It was Napoleon's fate to be exiled. The word is often lightly used, however: It was my fate to meet her that very afternoon. Destiny emphasizes the idea of an unalterable course of events, and is often used of a propitious fortune: It was his destiny to save his nation. Doom especially applies to the final ending, always unhappy or terrible, brought about by destiny or fate: He met his doom bravely. 7. foreordain, preordain.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fate

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • All efforts to ascertain your fate proved utterly fruitless.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • She was maintaining that calm level of submission to fate which had been her lifelong habit.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • And now, as the train took her swiftly to her fate, she made the best of it.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • From that day the fate of Leichardt and his companions has been involved in mystery.

  • Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere.

British Dictionary definitions for fate

fate

noun
  1. the ultimate agency that predetermines the course of events
  2. the inevitable fortune that befalls a person or thing; destiny
  3. the end or final result
  4. a calamitous or unfavourable outcome or result; death, destruction, or downfall
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verb
  1. (tr; usually passive) to predetermine; doomhe was fated to lose the game
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Word Origin

C14: from Latin fātum oracular utterance, from fārī to speak
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 fate

n.

late 14c., from Latin fata, neuter plural of fatum "prophetic declaration, oracle, prediction," thus "that which is ordained, destiny, fate," literally "thing spoken (by the gods)," from neuter past participle of fari "to speak," from PIE *bha- (2) "speak" (see fame (n.)).

The Latin sense evolution is from "sentence of the Gods" (Greek theosphaton) to "lot, portion" (Greek moira, personified as a goddess in Homer), also "one of the three goddesses (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) who determined the course of a human life." The native word was wyrd (see weird).

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v.

"to preordain as if by fate; to be destined by fate," c.1600, from fate (n.). Related: Fated; fating. Earlier it meant "to destroy" (c.1400).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with fate

fate

In addition to the idioms beginning with fate

also see:

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.