fate

[feyt] /feɪt/
noun
1.
something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune; lot:
It is always his fate to be left behind.
2.
the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events; time:
Fate decreed that they would never meet again.
3.
that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny:
Death is our ineluctable fate.
4.
a prophetic declaration of what must be:
The oracle pronounced their fate.
5.
death, destruction, or ruin.
6.
the Fates, Classical Mythology. the three goddesses of destiny, known to the Greeks as the Moerae and to the Romans as the Parcae.
verb (used with object), fated, fating.
7.
to predetermine, as by the decree of fate; destine (used in the passive):
a person who was fated to be the savior of the country.
Origin
1325-75; Middle English < Latin fātum utterance, decree of fate, destiny, orig. neuter of fātus, past participle of fārī to speak
Can be confused
fate, fete (see synonym study at the current entry)
Synonyms
1. karma, kismet; chance, luck. Fate, destiny, doom refer to the idea of a fortune, usually adverse, that is predetermined and inescapable. The three words are frequently interchangeable. Fate stresses the irrationality and impersonal character of events: It was Napoleon's fate to be exiled. The word is often lightly used, however: It was my fate to meet her that very afternoon. Destiny emphasizes the idea of an unalterable course of events, and is often used of a propitious fortune: It was his destiny to save his nation. Doom especially applies to the final ending, always unhappy or terrible, brought about by destiny or fate: He met his doom bravely. 7. foreordain, preordain.
Examples from the web for fate
  • Anatomy at birth may influence many things, but it is not fate.
  • His fate is written, and he will become a millionaire.
  • But that is rather beside the point when considering the fate of higher education.
  • The fact his future is so cloudy is an unfortunate twist of fate.
  • Other local groups-without lab space or money-have met a similar fate.
  • It would seem that the fate of literature in the electronic age depends upon the extent to which they do.
  • Imagine the likely fate of a high school student who dares to express an interest in similarly offensive or taboo ideas.
  • In a cruel twist of fate, the anti-debt party's first major vote would help the government go further into debt.
  • My specific point is simply to note the fate of one structure that has a lasting role in world imaginative history.
  • Cruel, too, when fate makes loosening those ties a relief.
British Dictionary definitions for fate

fate

/feɪt/
noun
1.
the ultimate agency that predetermines the course of events
2.
the inevitable fortune that befalls a person or thing; destiny
3.
the end or final result
4.
a calamitous or unfavourable outcome or result; death, destruction, or downfall
verb
5.
(transitive; usually passive) to predetermine; doom: he was fated to lose the game
Word Origin
C14: from Latin fātum oracular utterance, from fārī to speak
Word Origin and History for fate
n.

late 14c., from Latin fata, neuter plural of fatum "prophetic declaration, oracle, prediction," thus "that which is ordained, destiny, fate," literally "thing spoken (by the gods)," from neuter past participle of fari "to speak," from PIE *bha- (2) "speak" (see fame (n.)).

The Latin sense evolution is from "sentence of the Gods" (Greek theosphaton) to "lot, portion" (Greek moira, personified as a goddess in Homer), also "one of the three goddesses (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) who determined the course of a human life." The native word was wyrd (see weird).

v.

"to preordain as if by fate; to be destined by fate," c.1600, from fate (n.). Related: Fated; fating. Earlier it meant "to destroy" (c.1400).

Idioms and Phrases with fate

fate

In addition to the idioms beginning with fate
fate worse than death, a
also see: