fateful meaning and definition

FATEFUL adjective

Definition of fateful (adjective)

1. 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"
   • synonyms: fatal
2. ominously prophetic
   • synonyms: foreboding, portentous
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"
   • synonyms: black, calamitous, disastrous, fatal
4. controlled or decreed by fate; predetermined
   • "a fatal series of events"
   • synonyms: fatal