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REFERENCE

fatal

adj.
C1 Advanced Oxford US //ˈfeɪtəɫ// UK //fˈeɪtəl// fa·tal Archaic

adj. causing death or leading to a total failure. You use this to describe a mistake or an accident that has the worst possible result.

adj. causing death or leading to inevitable ruin or failure. In a technical context, it describes an error that causes a process or program to terminate completely.


SIMPLE

The driver suffered a fatal injury in the crash.

CONTEXTUAL

The company made a fatal mistake by ignoring the new technology, leading to its bankruptcy within a year.

COMPLEX

The software encountered a fatal error during the update, resulting in a complete system crash that required a manual reboot to resolve.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

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

Usage

Commonly modifies nouns like 'error', 'flaw', 'mistake', or 'accident'.

Pitfall

a fate accidenta fatal accidentLearners sometimes use the noun 'fate' instead of the adjective 'fatal' to describe a deadly event.

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