fataladj.
/ˈfeɪtl/, U.S. /ˈfeɪd(ə)l/ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [adjective] > fated or predestined
born1357
destinablec1374
destinalc1374
fatalc1374
predestinatec1384
foreordainedc1420
ordinate?a1425
destiny?1473
preordinatea1475
prefinitec1475
pointed1523
predestined1545
determined1546
ordinated1562
predestinated1571
preordained?1580
fore-appointeda1586
predeterminate1601
predetermined1601
destinated1604
destinate1605
destined1609
predesigned1668
predefinite1678
cut and dry1710
fated1715
weirded1820
laid-down1839
foreordinated1858
predesignated1883
predestinatory1893
preset1926
predefined1929
predestine1962
bashert1963
the world > existence and causation > occurrence > future events > [adjective] > concerned with destiny > destined
fatalc1374
portioned1567
weirdy1804
foreshadowed1866
fateful1876
c1374 G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde v. 1 The fathel destyne, That Joves hath in disposicioune.
c1430 J. Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes (1554) iv. xiv. 114 a Was neuer seine prince nor princesse That more proudly toke their fatal death.
a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid (1960) xi. Prol. 178 Prynce Ene, That, for hys fatale cuntre of behest, Sa feill dangeris sustenyt.
c1610 J. Melville Mem. Own Life (1683) 67 It appeared to be fatal to him, to like better of flatterers..than plain speakers.
1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 909 Obnoxious to..very much rain, a thing fatall to Islands.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. iii. 203 It was Still fatal to stout Hudibras..when least He dreamt of it, to prosper best.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 104 With perpetual inrodes to Allarme, Though inaccessible, his fatal Throne. View more context for this quotation
1713 R. Bentley Remarks Disc. Free-thinking I. xxvi. 52 It's fatal to our Author, ever to blunder when he talks of Egypt.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > doomed to misfortune
fatal1509
ill-starreda1616
foredoomed1700
ill-fated1713
weirdless1821
ill-bestarreda1834
snake-bit1942
the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [adjective] > fated to disaster
fatal1509
ill-fated1713
fated1817
snake-bit1957
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure vii. ii More lyker..Unto a place which is celestiall, Than to a certayne mancion fatall.
a1593 C. Marlowe Massacre at Paris (c1600) sig. A7 Now haue we got the fatall stragling deere: within..a deadly toyle.
1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) x. liv. 244 The Guizian Scot, Fatall to Seas of blood.
a1635 T. Randolph Amyntas iv. viii. 86 in Poems (1638) A fatall oake, at which great Iove Levels his thunder.
1668 W. Davenant Man's the Master iii. i She, whose fatal and unexperienc'd heart too soon believ'd thy many oaths.
3. Of the nature of fate; resembling fate in mode of action; proceeding by a fixed order or sequence; inevitable, necessary.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > [adjective] > inevitable
uneschewablec1374
unscapablea1382
ineschewable1412
inevitablec1430
intreatable1509
unevitable1539
forcible1574
inextricable1576
unavoidable1577
resistless1590
unshunning1593
unavoided1597
inexorable1600
unpreventablea1601
fatal1605
irrenitible1605
unvoided1612
unescapable1614
shunlessa1616
unshunnablea1616
ineluctable1623
unpreventible1632
undefensablea1642
undeclinable1652
indeclinable1658
ineludible1662
avoidlessa1668
inavoidable1670
infrustrable1677
unhinderable1678
wardless1693
unfrustrable1714
unparryable1770
inescapable1792
inexcludible1817
unproscribable1817
unprecludible1825
undeliverable1843
inevasible1846
scapeless1850
deviceless1851
escapeless1855
unevadable1857
ineliminable1875
inavertible1885
unavertible1897
voidless1908
the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [adjective]
fatal1605
ordinantial1657
1605 W. Camden Remaines i. 33 As though..fatall necessitie concurred..with voluntary motion, in giving the name.
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God v. ix. 209 Euery cause is not fatall, because there are causes of chance, nature and will.
1663 J. Spencer Disc. Prodigies (1665) 134 Nature is a blind and fatal Agent.
1751 J. Jortin Serm. (1771) II. i. 14 We must not charge our transgressions upon a fatal necessity.
1863 N. Hawthorne Our Old Home I. 155 What a hardy plant was Shakspeare's genius, how fatal its development.
1874 St. G. Mivart in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 776 ‘Instinct’ is ‘fatal’ but blind.
4. † b. Prophetic. Obsolete.† c. Foreboding or indicating mischief; ominous.
a. Concerned or dealing with destiny. Of agents: Controlling the destinies of men. (the) fatal dames, ladies, sisters: the Fates, or Parcæ. the fatal thread: that supposed to be spun by the Fates, determining the length of a man's life; so fatal web, fatal shears.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > occurrence > future events > [adjective] > concerned with destiny
fatal1447
the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [noun] > the (three) Fates > thread spun by
the fatal thread1447
line of lifec1580
lifeline1855
the world > the supernatural > deity > classical deity > [noun] > the Fates
weirdsc725
ParcaeeOE
the three sistersa1400
destiny14..
the Weird Sistersc1400
(the) fatal dames, ladies, sisters1552
the three Fatals1575
fate1600
the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [noun] > the (three) Fates
weirdsc725
ParcaeeOE
the three sistersa1400
(the) fatal dames, ladies, sisters1552
the three Fatals1575
fate1600
1447 O. Bokenham Lyvys Seyntys (1835) 8 Not to hastyly My fatal threed a sundyr smyte.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Fatal ladies, parcæ.
1592 R. Dallington tr. F. Colonna Hypnerotomachia f. 9v Abiding the proofe of their paine, and the cutting in snnder [sic] of their fatall thread.
1624 T. Heywood Γυναικεῖον i. 45 The Parcæ (or fatall Goddesses) are three.
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Spanish Curat iv. v, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. G2/1 Fatall Dames, that spin mens threds out.
1704 S. Dale in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) (Camden) 210 Death cut the fatal thread of life.
1713 A. Pope Ode Musick 6 How wilt thou now the fatal Sisters move?
a1721 M. Prior Turtle & Sparrow (1723) 56 Nor Birds nor Goddesses can move The just Behests of Fatal Jove.
1880 E. C. Brewer Reader's Handbk. Allusions 323/2 The three Fatal Sisters were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > inspired prophecy > [adjective]
witiec897
weirdc1400
propheticalc1450
propheticc1484
vaticinant1490
fatal?1504
spaeing?a1505
vaticinal1587
mantical1588
vatical1594
vatic1603
fatidical1608
vaticinating1634
fatiloquent1656
vaticinian1656
fatidic1671
fateful1720
vaticinatric1729
seer-like1816
mantic1839
fatidicating1867
vaticinatory1883
?1504 S. Hawes Example of Vertu sig. dd.iiv Poetes that were fatall.
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure viii. iii They [the poets]..Pronounced trouthe under cloudy figures, By the inventyon of theyr fatall scriptures.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World 393 They..taking direction..from the fatall Bookes, burned alive two men.
1656 A. Cowley Davideis i. 22 in Poems As he [Balam] went his fatal tongue to sell.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > inauspicious
perilousc1390
unlucky1519
unchancy1533
unhappy1533
infortunate1548
sinistrous?c1550
luckless1584
dismal1588
ominous1589
fatal1590
bad-bodinga1592
disastrous1598
inauspicious1599
black1604
naught1620
inauspicate1632
infaustous1656
infaust1658
ill-omened1685
black boding1743
wanchancy1768
oracular1820
inominous1832
widdershins1926
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > an omen, sign, portent > [adjective] > of evil omen
portentousc1487
shrewd1577
sinister1579
luckless1584
fatal1590
portentive1594
inauspicious1599
misboding1607
mal-ominous1612
ill-bodinga1616
unauspiciousa1616
portentful1633
ill-aboding1635
ill-omened1685
1590 C. Marlowe Tamburlaine: 2nd Pt. sig. I8 The black and fatall Rauens.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iii. i. 199 Now I feare that fatall Prophecie. View more context for this quotation
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 35 Such fatall fowles As croking Ravens.
1658 T. Willsford Natures Secrets 173 For seven nights after his death, there was heard hideous howling.., fatal Birds screaking in their Cities.
1658 T. Willsford Natures Secrets 188 These fatal Meteors are great motives to humble Man, to make him repent.
5. Fraught with destiny; fateful. Often with mixture of 6 or 7.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > [adjective]
fatalc1386
slaying1398
killing1435
dispatchinga1564
exanimating1607
dispatchful1608
feral1621
murdering1790
martyring1830
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [adjective] > decisive
fatalc1386
fateful1800
the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [adjective] > fraught with destiny
fatalc1386
c1386 G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale 163 The woful day fatal is come.
c1430 J. Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes (1544) i. viii. 13 Her father had fatal heere..the which did him assure Manly to fyght ayeinst his mortal foone.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iv. l. 294 With-out respyt cummyn was thar fatell houris.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxv The fatall daie of her obstinacie was come.
1612 J. Monipennie Abridgem. Sc. Chron. in Misc. Scot. I. 7 Who transported the marble fatall chayre to Westminster.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 725 The Snakie Sorceress..kept the fatal Key. View more context for this quotation
1713 J. Addison Cato i. iii What anxious moments pass between The birth of plots, and their last fatal periods.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth vii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. II. 204 The fatal spot where the unlucky Bonnet-maker's body was lying.
1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea I. xi. 171 In these same fatal days the Emperor Nicholas did much to bring his good faith into question.
6.
a. Producing or resulting in death, destruction, or irreversible ruin, material or immaterial; deadly, destructive, ruinous. Const. to. Also in phrase to prove fatal (to).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > cause of death > [adjective]
deadlyc893
deathlyOE
deathfula1250
mortalc1390
capitalc1426
exitialc1475
fey1488
mortuala1500
perishinga1500
fatal?1518
ferial1528
mortiferousa1538
deadc1540
exitious?1545
deathlike1548
mortifying1555
starvingc1600
lethal1604
speedingc1604
vital1612
irrecoverable1614
feral1621
lethiferous1651
mortific1651
mortifical1657
daggering1694
exitiose1727
fateful1764
kill-devil1831
unsurvivable1839
lethiferal1848
tachythanatous1860
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [adjective]
fellc1330
undone1340
ruinous?a1439
violablea1470
perniciousc1475
destructive1490
confusible1502
destroying1535
exitiable1548
ruinate1562
peremptory1567
wrackful1578
slaughterous1582
ruinating1595
ruining1605
corrumpent1607
wracksome1608
in suds1611
destructory1614
poisonousa1616
wrakefulc1625
predatory1626
predatorious1641
demolishing1648
untwined1649
undoing1654
destructionable1656
destructful1659
mortal1670
wreckinga1677
fatal1692
quadrumanous1704
interdestructive1805
annihilatory1825
demolitionary1834
ruinatious1845
consumptive1860
thunderous1874
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > bring to ruin or put an end to
undoc950
shendOE
forfarea1000
endc1000
to do awayOE
aquenchc1175
slayc1175
slayc1175
stathea1200
tinea1300
to-spilla1300
batec1300
bleschea1325
honisha1325
leesea1325
wastec1325
stanch1338
corrumpa1340
destroy1340
to put awayc1350
dissolvec1374
supplanta1382
to-shend1382
aneantizec1384
avoidc1384
to put outa1398
beshenda1400
swelta1400
amortizec1405
distract1413
consumec1425
shelfc1425
abroge1427
downthringc1430
kill1435
poisonc1450
defeat1474
perish1509
to blow away1523
abrogatea1529
to prick (also turn, pitch) over the perka1529
dash?1529
to bring (also send) to (the) pot1531
put in the pot1531
wipea1538
extermine1539
fatec1540
peppera1550
disappoint1563
to put (also set) beside the saddle1563
to cut the throat of1565
to throw (also turn, etc.) over the perch1568
to make a hand of (also on, with)1569
demolish1570
to break the neck of1576
to make shipwreck of1577
spoil1578
to knock on (in) the head (also rarely at head)1579
cipher1589
ruinate1590
to cut off by the shins1592
shipwreck1599
exterminate1605
finish1611
damnify1612
ravel1614
braina1616
stagger1629
unrivet1630
consummate1634
pulverizea1640
baffle1649
devil1652
to blow up1660
feague1668
shatter1683
cook1708
to die away1748
to prove fatal (to)1759
to knock up1764
to knock (or kick) the hindsight out or off1834
to put the kibosh on1834
to cook (rarely do) one's goose1835
kibosh1841
to chaw up1843
cooper1851
to jack up1870
scuttle1888
to bugger up1891
jigger1895
torpedo1895
on the fritz1900
to put paid to1901
rot1908
down and out1916
scuppera1918
to put the skids under1918
stonker1919
liquidate1924
to screw up1933
cruel1934
to dig the grave of1934
pox1935
blow1936
to hit for six1937
to piss up1937
to dust off1938
zap1976
?1518 A. Barclay Fyfte Eglog sig. Avj That fatal fruyte, which kyndled all theyr care.
1685–8 in Roxburghe Ballads VII. 454 O that my sorrows were ended, by the most fatalest hand.
1692 tr. C. de Saint-Évremond Misc. Ess. 24 Suspicions fatal to the merit of Strangers.
1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet iv. 369 A Palsy..when it seizeth the Heart, or Organs of Breathing, [is] fatal.
1759 W. Robertson Hist. Scotl. I. ii. 87 His death was fatal to the Catholic religion.
1781 W. Cowper Charity 144 A stroke as fatal as the scythe of Death.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. i. 28 A removal in her present state must be fatal.
1803 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 10 315 Influenza..is by no means a fatal disease.
1838 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece V. 80 The Spartan power had suffered a fatal blow.
1862 H. Spencer First Princ. i. ii. §14 To carry away this conclusion..would be a fatal error.
1895 N.E.D. at Fatal Mod. A fatal accident occurred on Monday.
b. Of a weapon, bait, etc.: Sure to kill, deadly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > cause of death > [adjective] > of weapons
felonc1330
fatala1616
murdering1681
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) v. ii. 17 Your eyes which hitherto haue borne In them..The fatall Balls of murthering Basiliskes. View more context for this quotation
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 293 A crooked sting..that fatal instrument which renders this insect so formidable.
1879 R. Jefferies Wild Life 358 A gudgeon is a fatal bait. Nothing is so certain to take.
7. The hyperbolical use of the word in sense 6 gives rise to a weakened sense: Causing serious harm, disastrous, gravely mischievous.Cf. French fatal, which is often used in a trivial manner unknown in English.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > [adjective]
litherc893
scathefulc900
balefulOE
orneOE
teenfulOE
evilc1175
venomousc1290
scathela1300
prejudiciala1325
fell?c1335
harmfula1340
grievous1340
ill1340
wicked1340
noisomea1382
venomed1382
noyfulc1384
damageousc1386
mischievousc1390
unwholesomea1400
undisposingc1400
damnablec1420
prejudiciable1429
contagiousc1440
damagefulc1449
pestiferous1458
damageable1474
pestilent?a1475
nuisable1483
nocible1490
nuisible1490
nuisant1494
noxiousa1500
nocent?c1500
pestilential1531
tortious1532
pestilentious1533
nocive1538
offensivea1548
vitiating1547
dangerous1548
offending1552
dispendious1557
injurious1559
offensible1575
offensant1578
baneful1579
incommodious1579
prejudicious1579
prejudical1595
inimicous1598
damnifiable1604
taking1608
obnoxious1612
nocivousc1616
mischieving1621
nocuous1627
nocumentous1644
disserviceable1645
inimical1645
detrimentous1648
injuring1651
detrimental1656
inimicitial1656
nocumental1657
incommodous1677
fatal1681
inimic1696
nociferous1706
damnific1727
inimicable1805
violational1821
insalutary1836
detrimentary1841
wronging1845
unsalvatory1850
damaging1856
damnous1870
wack1986
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > [adjective] > harmful or injurious > very
balefulOE
wanlichc1275
grievous1340
malignc1350
maliciousa1398
venom1538
virulent1563
malignant1564
blasting1591
fatal1681
blighting1796
terminal1952
1681 J. Dryden Absalom & Achitophel 6 By their Monarch's fatal mercy grown, From Pardon'd Rebels, Kinsmen.
1758 S. Hayward Seventeen Serm. xvii. 513 Incredible, did not fatal experience too much shew it.
1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 181 Wars had also a fatal influence on population.
1845 T. Carlyle in O. Cromwell Lett. & Speeches I. 74 To develope itself in other still fataller ways.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 371 Never would such disasters have befallen the monarchy but for the fatal law which [etc.].
a1861 E. B. Browning Last Poems (1862) 13 Now, you no longer are fatal, but ugly and hateful.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > classical deity > [noun] > the Fates
weirdsc725
ParcaeeOE
the three sistersa1400
destiny14..
the Weird Sistersc1400
(the) fatal dames, ladies, sisters1552
the three Fatals1575
fate1600
the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [noun] > the (three) Fates
weirdsc725
ParcaeeOE
the three sistersa1400
(the) fatal dames, ladies, sisters1552
the three Fatals1575
fate1600
1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus ii. f. 34v Thir Fatallis thre..bad me pas, stand to my destenie.
1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus ii. f. 27v The thre fatales.
1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 162 Providence is in the ordering of casuals, as well as fatals.
Compounds
With present and past participles, as fatal-looking; also (quasi-adv.) in fatal-boding, fatal-plotted.
ΚΠ
1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus ii. iii. 47 Giue the king this fatall plotted scrowle.
1594 T. Lodge Wounds Ciuill War iii. i, in W. C. Hazlitt Dodsley's Sel. Coll. Old Eng. Plays (1874) VII. 149 The screech-owl chants her fatal~boding lays.
1839 T. Carlyle Chartism i. 2 Brandishing pike and torch (one knows not in which case more fatal-looking).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.c1374