fateful
Americanadjective
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having momentous significance or consequences; decisively important; portentous.
a fateful meeting between the leaders of the two countries.
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fatal, deadly, or disastrous.
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controlled or determined by destiny; inexorable.
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prophetic; ominous.
adjective
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having important consequences; decisively important
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bringing death or disaster
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controlled by or as if by fate
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prophetic
Synonym Usage
See ominous.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fateful
Explanation
A fateful moment is one that seems impossible to avoid. And when a fateful event occurs, it feels like it will have a big impact on your future — and usually not in a good way. “I can fit my head into this jar!” — fateful words that resulted in a trip to the hospital. Most of the time, fateful spells disaster. There was the fateful day you left your guinea pig’s cage door open, and there are fateful decisions that seem innocent at the time, but come back to haunt you later. Fate is the idea that your life is mapped out, and a fateful instance is one significant landmark on that map.
Vocabulary lists containing fateful
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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I Am Malala
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Island of the Blue Dolphins
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He is the author of “The Fateful History of Fannie Mae,” published by History Press in 2012, and "Yours Truly," published by Kensington's Citadel Press imprint, a book on how to tell life stories.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
A Time magazine cover from July 1989 had an illustration of Mr. Hazelwood with the headline: Fateful Voyage.
From Washington Post • Sep. 11, 2022
Twisted Pair will be Breen’s fifth feature film, following 2016’s Pass Thru and his breakout 2013 film Fateful Findings.
From Slate • Jul. 26, 2018
The tournament, which was to have been the crowning moment for Brazilian soccer, is now remembered only for “The Defeat,” or “The Fateful Final.”
From The New Yorker • Jun. 11, 2014
"Her Fateful Day," a short story by Maude Dolby, is pleasing and ingenious despite certain improbabilities.
From Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922 by Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
