fatal

See also: fåtal

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪ.təl/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈfeɪ.ɾɫ̩]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtəl

Adjective

fatal (comparative more fatal, superlative most fatal)

1. (rare, archaic) Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.

   Synonyms: inevitable, necessary; see also Thesaurus:inevitable

   • 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.

   Synonyms: inauspicious, portentous; see also Thesaurus:ominous

   • 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, terminal; see also Thesaurus:disastrous

   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.

   • 2021 July 1, Gregory McNamee, “Does spinach make you strong? Ask Popeye – and science”, in CNN‎:

     For this reason, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that spinach be cooked at 160º for 15 seconds, which kills potentially fatal bacteria.

4. (computing) Causing a sudden end to the running of a program.

   a fatal error; a fatal exception

Derived terms

• fatal attraction
• fatal familial insomnia
• fatalism
• fatalist
• fatalistic
• fatality
• fatalize
• fatally
• fatalness
• fatal system error
• homme fatal
• non-fatal
• nonfatal
• nonfatally
• unfatal

Translations

proceeding from fate

Albanian: fatal (sq) Bulgarian: съдбоносен (bg) (sǎdbonosen), фатален (bg) (fatalen) Catalan: fatal (ca) Czech: osudový (cs) m Dutch: fataal (nl) Esperanto: fatala Finnish: kohtalokas (fi) French: fatal (fr) Galician: fatal German: verhängnisvoll, fatal (de) Ido: fatala (io) Italian: fatale (it) Japanese: 宿命的な (ja) (shukumeiteki na) Latin: fatalis Mongolian: үйлтэй (üjltej) Norwegian: skjebnebestemt Polish: fatalny (pl) Portuguese: fatal (pt) Russian: роково́й (ru) (rokovój), фата́льный (ru) (fatálʹnyj) Slovene: usoden (sl) Spanish: fatal (es) Swedish: ödesbestämd

foreboding death

Catalan: fatal (ca) Czech: osudný m Dutch: fataal (nl) Finnish: kohtalokas (fi) French: fatal (fr) Galician: fatal German: tödlich Indonesian: fatal (id) Italian: fatale (it) Latin: mortifer Norwegian: skjebnesvanger, fatal Portuguese: fatal (pt) Russian: роково́й (ru) (rokovój) Slovene: usoden (sl) Spanish: fatal (es) Swedish: dödsbringande (sv)

causing death

Albanian: fatal (sq) Arabic: مُمِيت (mumīt), قَاتِل (ar) (qātil) Bulgarian: смъртоносен (bg) (smǎrtonosen) Catalan: fatal (ca) Czech: osudný m Dutch: fataal (nl) Esperanto: mortiga Finnish: tappava (fi), tuhoisa (fi), kohtalokas (fi), fataali French: fatal (fr) Galician: fatal German: tödlich (de) Greek: Ancient: θανάσιμος (thanásimos) Hebrew: קטלני (katlaní) Indonesian: fatal (id) Italian: fatale (it) Japanese: 致死の (ja) (chishi no), 命取りの (ja) (inochitori no) Latin: mortifer, lētālis, exitiālis Latvian: nāvīgs, nāvējošs Macedonian: смртоносен (smrtonosen) Maori: whakamate Norwegian: fatal Portuguese: fatal (pt) Russian: роково́й (ru) (rokovój), смерте́льный (ru) (smertélʹnyj) Slovene: usoden (sl), smrtonosen (sl) Spanish: fatal (es), mortal (es) Swedish: dödlig (sv), fatal (sv)

computing: causing a sudden end to the running of a program

Finnish: fataali Swedish: kritisk (sv)

Noun

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

fatality — see fatality

computing: fatal error

Finnish: fataali virhe

Anagrams

• A-flat, Falta, aflat, A flat, a-flat, a flat

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [fəˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [faˈtal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Homophone: (Balearic,Central) fetal
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

fatal m or f (masculine and feminine plural fatals)

1. fatal

Derived terms

• fatalisme
• fatalista
• fatalment

Related terms

• fatalitat

Further reading

• “fatal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “fatal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “fatal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “fatal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Danish

Etymology

From Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fataːl/, [faˈtˢæːˀl]

Adjective

fatal

1. fatal

   Synonym: skæbnesvanger

Inflection

Inflection of fatal

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite 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

• fatalisme

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.tal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

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

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

Derived terms

• étreinte fatale
• fatalement
• fatalisme
• fataliste
• femme fatale

Related terms

• fatalité

Further reading

• “fatal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faˈtaːl/

• Audio (Germany):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

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

• 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

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

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch fataal, from Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈfatal/ [ˈfa.t̪al]
• Rhymes: -atal
• Syllabification: fa‧tal

Adjective

fatal

1. fatal; causing death or destruction

   Synonyms: celaka, mematikan

2. (uncommon) fatal; proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny, inevitable

   Near-synonym: nasib

Related terms

• fatalis
• fatalisme
• fatalitas

Further reading

• “fatal” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.