fateful

[ feyt-fuhl ]

adjective

1. having momentous significance or consequences; decisively important; portentous:

   a fateful meeting between the leaders of the two countries.

2. fatal, deadly, or disastrous.
3. controlled or determined by destiny; inexorable.
4. prophetic; ominous.

fateful

/ ˈfeɪtfʊl /

adjective

1. having important consequences; decisively important
2. bringing death or disaster
3. controlled by or as if by fate
4. prophetic

Derived Forms

• ˈfatefulness, noun
• ˈfatefully, adverb

Other Words From

• fateful·ly adverb
• fateful·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of fateful¹

First recorded in 1705–15; fate + -ful

Synonym Study

See ominous.

Example Sentences

Just like that fateful 911 call, the first reports about the shooting – made public by police officials and published by local media outlets – were characterized by falsehoods and information gaps.

From Voice of San Diego

For the first few decades, Wheaties athletes were depicted on the back of the box, but in 1958 the brand made a fateful choice.

From FiveThirtyEight

There was this fateful day when you observed a chimpanzee sticking a stalk of grass into a termite hole and then pulling out the stalk that was now covered in termites and eating them.

From Vox

In a potentially fateful decision, it funded work similar to Baric’s at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which soon used its own reverse-genetics technology to make numerous coronavirus chimeras.

From MIT Technology Review

This week on a music-themed edition of Wherever You Get Your Podcasts, we take a deep dive into hip-hop’s history, learn about a king’s fateful haircut, discover the lost music of Tanzania and explore the multifaceted glory that is the Dollyverse.

From Ozy

The Malaysian crew said they could not comply—the report gives no reason for what was very likely a fateful decision.

From The Daily Beast

Lindsay Lohan was also spotted at the restaurant that fateful night.

From The Daily Beast

On that fateful Friday, July 13th, Sanders joined Democratic staff investigator Scott Armstrong in questioning Butterfield.

From The Daily Beast

In the wake of that fateful 2008 evening, Cotillard has worked for, and alongside, some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

From The Daily Beast

A few days after this fateful visit, each visionary reported seeing images of rivers of blood and headless corpses.

From The Daily Beast

As the music wailed its dying cadences into this fateful silence, Tom met her eyes across the room.

From Project Gutenberg

Winifred, naturally a high-spirited and lively girl, soon recovered from the fright of that fateful Sunday evening.

From Project Gutenberg

But the immediate interest centres in the fateful attempt to relieve the castle of Stirling.

From Project Gutenberg

She had declared that she arrived at Hill Street about seven o'clock on that fateful second of September.

From Project Gutenberg

On this fateful date, the feature had been completed and the afterpiece was being enacted.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• calamitous
• cataclysmic
• catastrophic
• disastrous
• fatal