ill-fated
Americanadjective
-
destined, as though by fate, to an unhappy or unfortunate end.
an ill-fated voyage.
- Synonyms:
- ill-starred, doomed, cursed, accursed
-
bringing bad fortune.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ill-fated
First recorded in 1700–10
Explanation
If you have terrible luck, you're ill-fated. An ill-fated plan to drive across the country might end with your old car breaking down in Kansas. An ill-fated day is one you remember for years as extremely unlucky, and an ill-fated decision, in retrospect, was a really bad choice. An ill-fated attempt at tightrope walking results in falling off over and over again, and an ill-fated choice of lunch in a foreign country might end in food poisoning. Ill-fated is rooted in ill-, "badly," and fated, "be destined to happen," from the Latin fatum, "that which has been spoken."
Vocabulary lists containing ill-fated
Blood on the River
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Pre-AP Theatre
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Far from the Tree
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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.
Researchers have identified four additional sailors from Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 1845 Arctic expedition, including one man whose identity had remained the subject of debate for more than a century.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
Hernández avenged his ill-fated inside-the-park home run attempt — he was thrown out at the plate on an aggressive send two innings earlier — with a well-struck RBI single.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Most accounts of the American Revolution skate right over the ill-fated invasion of Quebec in 1775, months before the Declaration of Independence.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
The ill-fated wood-pellet trades that bankrupted Enviva during the sustainable-investing boom were made by executives hoping to trigger their own bonuses, according to creditors who are seeking more than $2 billion in damages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
This, together with the search for “loyal” soldiers, had given rise to the ill-fated “oath.”
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
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.
