Wiktionary

fatal

See also: fåtal

English

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Etymology

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From Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fatal (not comparable)

  1. (rare, archaic) Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.
    Synonyms: inevitable, necessary
    • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:
      She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.
  2. (rare, archaic) Foreboding death or great disaster.
    Synonym: terminal
    • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
      Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
  3. Causing death or destruction.
    Synonyms: calamitous, deadly, destructive, lethal, mortal
    a fatal wound; a fatal disease; that fatal day; a fatal mistake
    • 1980 December 6, Cindy Rizzo, “Jewish, Lesbian, Feminist, Psychologist, Author--All of the above and more”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 9:
      Author Rita Mae Brown consistently strings together short comical movie clips which may be fine for screenplays but fatal in novels. Unfortunately, Toder chooses to imitate this model and her story suffers.
    • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:
      Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.
  4. (computing) Causing a sudden end to the running of a program.
    a fatal error; a fatal exception

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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fatal (plural fatals)

  1. A fatality; an event that leads to death.
    • 1969, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education, Hearings, page 90:
      For this same period there have been four fatals and 44 nonfatals in gassy mines.
    • 1999 April, Flying Magazine, volume 126, number 4, page 15:
      The best accident rate in general aviation is in corporate/executive flying at 0.17 per 100000 hours for fatals and .50 for total accidents.
  2. (computing) A fatal error; a failure that causes a program to terminate.

Translations

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fatality — see fatality

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fatal m or f (masculine and feminine plural fatals)

  1. fatal

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Danish

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Etymology

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From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /fataːl/, [faˈtˢæːˀl]

Adjective

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fatal

  1. fatal
    Synonym: skæbnesvanger

Inflection

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Inflection of fatal
Positive Comparative Superlative
Indefinte common singular fatal — —2
Indefinite neuter singular fatalt — —2
Plural fatale — —2
Definite attributive1 fatale — —
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Derived terms

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fatal (feminine fatale, masculine plural fatals, feminine plural fatales)

  1. fatal (due to fate)
  2. fatal (causing death)

Derived terms

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Further reading

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German

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Etymology

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17th century, from Latin fātālis, in part through French fatal.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fatal (strong nominative masculine singular fataler, comparative fataler, superlative am fatalsten)

  1. fatal, having serious consequences, severe
    Synonyms: verhängnisvoll, folgenschwer, schwer, ernst, gravierend
  2. (dated) embarrassing, awkward, causing predicament
    Synonyms: misslich, peinlich, unangenehm

Usage notes

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  • The German adjective does not in itself imply death. For example, ein fataler Autounfall (“a fatal car accident”) may be a deadly accident, but could just as well be one which is severe for other reasons, e.g. because several cars were involved in it.

Declension

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Positive forms of fatal
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist fatal sie ist fatal es ist fatal sie sind fatal
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative fataler fatale fatales fatale
genitive fatalen fataler fatalen fataler
dative fatalem fataler fatalem fatalen
accusative fatalen fatale fatales fatale
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der fatale die fatale das fatale die fatalen
genitive des fatalen der fatalen des fatalen der fatalen
dative dem fatalen der fatalen dem fatalen den fatalen
accusative den fatalen die fatale das fatale die fatalen
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein fataler eine fatale ein fatales (keine) fatalen
genitive eines fatalen einer fatalen eines fatalen (keiner) fatalen
dative einem fatalen einer fatalen einem fatalen (keinen) fatalen
accusative einen fatalen eine fatale ein fatales (keine) fatalen
Comparative forms of fatal
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist fataler sie ist fataler es ist fataler sie sind fataler
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative fatalerer fatalere fataleres fatalere
genitive fataleren fatalerer fataleren fatalerer
dative fatalerem fatalerer fatalerem fataleren
accusative fataleren fatalere fataleres fatalere
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der fatalere die fatalere das fatalere die fataleren
genitive des fataleren der fataleren des fataleren der fataleren
dative dem fataleren der fataleren dem fataleren den fataleren
accusative den fataleren die fatalere das fatalere die fataleren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein fatalerer eine fatalere ein fataleres (keine) fataleren
genitive eines fataleren einer fataleren eines fataleren (keiner) fataleren
dative einem fataleren einer fataleren einem fataleren (keinen) fataleren
accusative einen fataleren eine fatalere ein fataleres (keine) fataleren
Superlative forms of fatal
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist am fatalsten sie ist am fatalsten es ist am fatalsten sie sind am fatalsten
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative fatalster fatalste fatalstes fatalste
genitive fatalsten fatalster fatalsten fatalster
dative fatalstem fatalster fatalstem fatalsten
accusative fatalsten fatalste fatalstes fatalste
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der fatalste die fatalste das fatalste die fatalsten
genitive des fatalsten der fatalsten des fatalsten der fatalsten
dative dem fatalsten der fatalsten dem fatalsten den fatalsten
accusative den fatalsten die fatalste das fatalste die fatalsten
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein fatalster eine fatalste ein fatalstes (keine) fatalsten
genitive eines fatalsten einer fatalsten eines fatalsten (keiner) fatalsten
dative einem fatalsten einer fatalsten einem fatalsten (keinen) fatalsten
accusative einen fatalsten eine fatalste ein fatalstes (keine) fatalsten

Indonesian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Dutch fataal, from Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈfatal]
  • Hyphenation: fa‧tal

Adjective

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fatal

  1. fatal
    1. causing death or destruction
      Synonym: celaka
    2. proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny; inevitable

Further reading

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Middle French

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Etymology

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First known attestation 1380,[1] from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Adjective

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fatal m (feminine singular fatale, masculine plural fatals, feminine plural fatales)

  1. fatal (due to fate)

References

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  1. ^ Etymology and history of “fatal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Adjective

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fatal (neuter singular fatalt, definite singular and plural fatale)

  1. fatal

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Adjective

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fatal (neuter singular fatalt, definite singular and plural fatale)

  1. fatal

References

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

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  • Rhymes: -al, -aw
  • Hyphenation: fa‧tal

Adjective

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fatal m or f (plural fatais)

  1. fatal
    1. decided by fate or destiny
      Synonym: fatídico
      Antonym: casual
    2. causing death
      Synonyms: letal, letífero, letífico, mortal, mortifero
    3. causing damage
      Synonyms: calamitoso, funesto, nefasto, prejudicial
  2. inevitable
    Synonyms: inelutável, inevitável, infalível
  3. terrible, very bad

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Adjective

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fatal m or n (feminine singular fatală, masculine plural fatali, feminine and neuter plural fatale)

  1. fatal

Declension

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Declension of fatal
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative/
accusative 		indefinite fatal fatală fatali fatale
definite fatalul fatala fatalii fatalele
genitive/
dative 		indefinite fatal fatale fatali fatale
definite fatalului fatalei fatalilor fatalelor

Spanish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /faˈtal/ [faˈt̪al]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: fa‧tal

Adjective

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fatal m or f (masculine and feminine plural fatales)

  1. fatal
  2. terrible, very bad

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Bikol Central: patal (“stupid”)

Adverb

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fatal

  1. very badly, terribly
    Me siento fatal. ― I feel terrible.
    Manejas fatal. ― You drive terribly.

Further reading

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Swedish

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Adjective

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fatal (not comparable)

  1. fatal (having dire consequences)
    begå ett fatalt misstag ― make a fatal mistake

Usage notes

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For “fatal” in the sense of “bringing death,” see dödlig. Compare also dödsolycka (“fatal accident”).

Declension

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Inflection of fatal
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular fatal — —
Neuter singular fatalt — —
Plural fatala — —
Masculine plural3 fatale — —
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 fatale — —
All fatala — —
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic

References

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