fatal
fa·tal
adjective
2.
having momentous consequences; of decisive importance
- “that fateful meeting of the U.N. when...it declared war on North Korea” Saturday Rev
- “the fatal day of the election finally arrived”
3.
(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin
- “the stock market crashed on Black Friday”
- “a calamitous defeat”
- “the battle was a disastrous end to a disastrous campaign”
- “such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory” Charles Darwin
- “it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it” Douglas MacArthur
- “a fateful error”
4.
Origin
From Middle French fatal, from Latin fātālis (“fatal”).
Phrases
- fatal attraction
- fatal familial insomnia
- homme fatal
Related words
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.