fatalfa‧tal /ˈfeɪtl/ ●●○ adjective 
potentially fatal diseasesfatal accident/illness/injury etc a fatal climbing accident If it is not treated correctly, the condition can prove fatal (=be fatal).2having a very bad effect, especially making someone fail or stop what they are doingfatal to Disunity finally proved fatal to the rebels’ cause. There was one fatal flaw (=serious weakness) in his argument. His presidential hopes suffered a fatal blow in New Hampshire.fatal mistake/error Telling your employees they’re unimportant is a fatal error.
WORD ORIGINfatal
Origin:
1300-1400 French, Latin fatalis, from fatum; ➔ FATEEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- a fatal heart attack
- A sudden shock could be fatal to anyone with a weak heart.
- He suffered a fatal injury to the neck.
- Meyer's car was involved in a fatal accident on the freeway.
- The gas can be fatal if inhaled in large amounts.
- Individual immortality would threaten the species as a whole - almost certainly with fatal results.
- Its fatal venom had no effect on him.
- Otherwise, he fears a fatal collision is on the horizon.
- Recently I have experienced near fatal fevers.
- She will host the surprise get-together tomorrow as a thank you to the victims of a fatal muscle wasting disease.
- Some were present in potentially fatal quantities.
- The delay may be disappointing but is not fatal.
Longman Language Activatoran illness or accident that you die from
a fatal accident or medical condition kills the person who has it, usually immediately: · a fatal heart attack· Meyer's car was involved in a fatal accident on the freeway.
a terminal illness cannot be cured, and the person who has it will soon die: · Is the disease terminal?· She was recently told she has terminal cancer.
able to kill you a fatal accident, illness, or injury is one that causes death: · He suffered a fatal injury to the neck.fatal to: · A sudden shock could be fatal to anyone with a weak heart.
something that is lethal can cause death - use this especially about weapons or substances: · The poison produced by the frog's skin is so lethal that it can paralyze a bird or a monkey immediately.· A lethal cocktail of pollutants is being poured into Scotland's coastal waters, according to Greenpeace.lethal weapon: · Almost any sharp or pointed object can potentially be a lethal weapon.lethal to: · Most pesticides are lethal to earthworms on or near the surface.
something such as a disease or poison that is deadly can cause death: · In the First World War pneumonia was as deadly as bullets and shells.· Some mushrooms are edible while others, which look almost identical, contain deadly poisons.
a killer disease or thing could kill or has killed a lot of people - used especially in newspapers: · A swarm of killer bees has attacked 70 children in a village in northern Mexico.· Killer floods and hurricanes in Asia have destroyed whole towns.
a mortal injury, wound, or disease is one that causes death - used especially in literature: · He killed Leonardo and received a mortal wound himself.· He gathered all his strength to deliver his opponent the final mortal blow.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY a fatal climbing accident If it is not treated correctly, the condition can prove fatal (=be fatal). Disunity finally proved fatal to the rebels’ cause. There was one fatal flaw (=serious weakness) in his argument. His presidential hopes suffered a fatal blow in New Hampshire. Telling your employees they’re unimportant is a fatal error.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1resulting in someone’s death: a fatal climbing accident If it is not treated correctly, the condition can prove fatal (=be fatal). Disunity finally proved fatal to the rebels’ cause. There was one fatal flaw (=serious weakness) in his argument. His presidential hopes suffered a fatal blow in New Hampshire. Telling your employees they’re unimportant is a fatal error. (=in which someone is killed)· a fatal accident involving a bus and a cyclist
(=causing something to end)· When he quit it dealt a mortal blow to the show.
(=in which someone is killed)· There have been several fatal crashes on this road.
(=that causes death)· If left untreated, the disease can be fatal.· Thousands of children are struck down by this deadly disease every year.
(=an amount that kills you)· She took a lethal dose of painkillers.
(=extremely serious, so that you are certain to fail)· Telling your staff they are not important is a fatal error.
(=a weakness that makes something certain to fail)
(=causing death quite quickly)· She developed a fatal illness.
(=that kills someone)· Fortunately, his injuries weren’t fatal.
(=a very bad mistake, often one that ends something)· His fatal mistake was to underestimate his opponent.
(=the shot that killed someone)· It wasn’t clear who had fired the fatal shot.
(=one that kills someone)· He suffered a fatal stroke in April.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Until recent improvements in treatment, the illness was often fatal.· That turned out to be a dangerous and often fatal myth.· This chapter has dealt with the mechanism of a debilitating and often fatal symptom of disease, namely diarrhoea.· One of the Seven Deadly Sins and the one most often fatal to the great ones.· Small quantities of copper are often fatal to invertebrates.
· This time though, the damage was potentially fatal.· It is standard medical practice here not to tell the patient about potentially fatal illnesses, especially cancer.· Some were present in potentially fatal quantities.· In the doorway stands 2-year-old Davell Payne, a few feet from a potentially fatal tumble down the stairwell.· Enterocolitis is one of the rare but potentially fatal manifestations of gold toxicity.· These include the more firmly established association between the drugs and a potentially fatal lung disease, primary pulmonary hypertension.· Recently I have experienced serious and potentially fatal fevers.· Preeclampsia is a potentially fatal condition that usually strikes in the last trimester of pregnancy.
· The tannins affect the absorption by the birds' guts of certain essential nutrients causing low growth rates which are sometimes fatal.· It was a dangerous and sometimes fatal job.· Jaundice associated with liver failure appeared without warning and was sometimes fatal.· The result is inevitably a clash, sometimes fatal, with livestock and even humans.
NOUN· A vast monument is being built 400m from the highway where Rodrigo had his fatal accident.· It was the first fatal accident involving ValuJet since the bargain airline began operations in October 1993.· Blaming terracing alone for the tragedy is rather like banning cars after a fatal accident.· The Cosbys are getting a dose of what families of homicide and fatal accident victims get routinely.· Properly interpreted and monitored, the quarter mill map can prevent anything from a stray into controlled airspace to a fatal accident.· This one-off was destroyed in a fatal accident on September 25 - on its way home from the races.· This might be justified as a means of signalling the connection between drunken driving and fatal accidents.· However, after a number of fatal accidents this year, some people are questioning whether grooming is such a great idea.
· For the prosecution case to stand, it will be necessary to prove that Lenny McLean struck the fatal blow.· His presidential hopes thus suffered a fatal blow in the snow drifts of New Hampshire.· Experts claim that at least half were inflicted well before the fatal blow.· This was the first time he dealt a fatal blow without intending it.· The woman had lashed out in fear and given the bird a fatal blow, feathers everywhere.· He had not delivered the fatal blows, he had not pulled the trigger.· Who might strike the fatal blow this time?· The sudden resignations looked like a fatal blow to Mr Ciampi at the start of reform.
· Incident and fatal cancers were not significantly increased in male or female patients taking atenolol.· By contrast, the chances of a major nuclear accident resulting in 100 fatal cancers was set at one in a million.· The estimated risk factors for radiation-induced fatal cancers and serious hereditary damage are given in table 5.4.· Validation before linking showed that 92% of fatal cancers known to the clinic were also known to the registry.
· Five of the six presumed urban cases in Santa Cruz died, which suggests that non-fatal cases were missed.· We report a fatal case of toxic shock syndrome in a 14 year old girl associated with minor day case dermatological surgery.· Create lever-arch files with in-house material on subjects such as costs, structured settlements and fatal cases.· In cotton-harvesting, the use of pesticides has provoked severe or fatal cases of poisoning.
· This happened with fatal consequences in 1953 when the Lee Wick wall collapsed sending water shooting over the marshes to Jaywick.· Could it not have been a minor act of spite on some one's part which had had unintended fatal consequences?· An old armchair could have fatal consequences, long before the fire service has arrived to tackle the flames.· A distraction may cause it to wander off into the road, with fatal consequences.· It produces diarrhoea, especially in young children, and in immunologically compromised adults may multiply within the host with fatal consequences.· Rarely, the fish slip inside the mouth and can cause acute respiratory obstruction with fatal consequences.· Some experts recommend introducing these fish into the aquarium in advance of other fish to reduce the fatal consequences 3.
· It was the first fatal crash in the airliner's 31-year history.· Officials are still trying to piece together what happened before the fatal crash Sunday.· Some who witnessed the fatal crash from the stands in Daytona made the 500-mile trip to North Carolina to pay homage there.
· Botulism is another fatal disease which has come to the fore in recent years.· At that time, this was a fatal disease.· In Britain 70 people have died and nine others are infected by the invariably fatal disease.· For, unfortunately, even when science eliminates all fatal diseases, 100 percent of us still are going to die.· I have come to the same conclusion as many people who find that they have a potentially fatal disease.· When cystic fibrosis was first described it was a fatal disease of children.
· It had made the fatal error of overkill.· This determination then leads him into his fatal error.· It is a fatal error to assume that lowering the price makes an indifferent product saleable to a general market.· Surely everyone knows the fatal errors of all those isms.
· His reconstruction of the crimes had suffered from one fatal flaw.· Many have argued that one of the fatal flaws a manager can have is unwillingness or inability to delegate.· False percentages A fatal flaw in using percentages is to try and add them up when this is not really possible.· She warns of thirst for knowledge tipping over into dangerous greed, and of youthful promise lost for one fatal flaw.· But there is a fatal flaw in such policies: they assume that all cultures are equal in power.· Yet yesterday's report, which highlighted fatal flaws in the system, showed that was clearly not the case.· There were three fatal flaws to the Chancellor's strategy.
· On hearing the news, her boyfriend promptly dumps her and father has a fatal heart attack.· In Connecticut, a Waterbury man suffered a fatal heart attack Sunday night after going outside to fill his snowblower with gasoline.· Smoking - particularly cigarettes - is the cause of one in every five fatal heart attacks.· At this age, heavy smokers have 10 to 15 times the rate of fatal heart attacks of nonsmokers.· He couldn't very well go up to him and accuse him of giving old Mr Schofield a fatal heart attack.· A fatal heart attack happens in Britain every three minutes.· He did not know that in his last months he had developed a fatal heart condition.· There were only two fatal strokes and five fatal heart attacks in this study.
· A third illustration is asbestos manufacture, which is implicated in fatal illness amongst employees and others.· It is standard medical practice here not to tell the patient about potentially fatal illnesses, especially cancer.· It was while he was besieging that town that the king contracted a fatal illness.
· There is little doubt that use of a full harness prevented serious if not fatal injuries to the pilot.· Yet only three of the passengers sustained fatal injuries from that impact.· Both pilots received fatal injuries at impact.· The blast set the 29-year-old on fire and only the prompt action of a passer-by prevented potentially fatal injuries.· No broken bones or fatal injuries.· It will be a matter of surprise for us if there were no fatal injuries.· Peter Vanezis, a pathologist, told the hearing that the fatal injury was brain haemorrhaging caused by a 15-centimetre skull fracture.
· But then, during the monsoon of 1661, she made her fatal mistake.· It was an expensive, almost financially fatal mistake.· This may be a fatal mistake.· I almost made a fatal mistake when she asked me to transfer the call to the Oval Office.· But then we asked him a bit more about it and he made his fatal mistake.· Which uncle had told him that was a fatal mistake?· However, in the choice of his last collaborator, Henry Philips, he made a fatal mistake.· The porpoises delight in riding on the bow waves of motor boats, which has frequently proved to be a fatal mistake.
· Individual immortality would threaten the species as a whole - almost certainly with fatal results.· A second time they came forward in greater numbers and with more boldness and determination, but with even more fatal results.· Berg tapped into the unpalatable side of public opinion, becoming addicted to verbal wind-ups and hostility with fatal results.· Those having no money were forced to give up their clothes and sleep on the bare floor, often with fatal results.· In the crisis, quite unexpectedly, Callaghan seemed to lose some of his touch, with fatal results.· The horse therefore must have a mechanism to remove this excess heat build-up to prevent his body temperature increasing with fatal results.
· But the hearing was unable to decide who fired the fatal shots and an accident verdict was recorded.· He claims they were ordered out of the area after the fatal shot was fired by either Raul or Jowers.· Evans, who fired the fatal shot, was sentenced to life in prison.
· The campaign came in response to a spate of fatal stabbings and involved extra police officers being drafted in to patrol late-night trouble spots.
potentially fatal diseasesfatal accident/illness/injury etc a fatal climbing accident If it is not treated correctly, the condition can prove fatal (=be fatal).2having a very bad effect, especially making someone fail or stop what they are doingfatal to Disunity finally proved fatal to the rebels’ cause. There was one fatal flaw (=serious weakness) in his argument. His presidential hopes suffered a fatal blow in New Hampshire.fatal mistake/error Telling your employees they’re unimportant is a fatal error.