Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

fated

[fey-tid]
See more synonyms for fated on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. subject to, guided by, or predetermined by fate; destined.
Show More

Origin of fated

First recorded in 1595–1605; fate + -ed3
Related formsun·fat·ed, adjective

fate

[feyt]
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.
Show More
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.
Show More

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 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

Related Words

doomed, predetermined, destined, impending, preordained, predestined, foreordained, imminent, inescapable, inevitable, unavoidable

Examples from the Web for fated

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Whichever it was, that was all that I was fated to see or hear of the Opera.

  • To Hondscio then was that harassing deadly, his fall there was fated.

    Beowulf

    Anonymous

  • I suppose that these things may be regarded as fated,—and I think that they are well.

    Apology

    Plato

  • No matter where I went, on land or water, I was fated to meet these two.

    The Rise of Roscoe Paine

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • For under a cloud Flora de Barral was fated to be even at sea.

    Chance

    Joseph Conrad

British Dictionary definitions for fated

fated

adjective
  1. destined
  2. doomed to death or destruction
Show More

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
Show More
verb
  1. (tr; usually passive) to predetermine; doomhe was fated to lose the game
Show More

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 fated

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).

Show More

fate

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).

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with fated

fate

In addition to the idioms beginning with fate

  • fate worse than death, a

also see:

  • seal one's fate
  • tempt fate
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.