1
: the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do : destiny
… fate sometimes deals a straight flush … he had no idea that he would become the right man in the right place at the right time …—
June Goodfield
June Goodfield2
a
: an inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or end
Her fate was to remain in exile.
3
a
: final outcome
Congress decided the bill's fate by a single vote.
b
: the expected result of normal development
prospective fate of embryonic cells
c
: the circumstances that befall someone or something
did not know the fate of her former classmates
4
Fates plural
: the three goddesses, Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis, who determine the course of human life in classical mythology
Examples of fate in a Sentence
Noun
… the fate of our species is bound up with those of countless others, with which we share a habitat that we cannot long dominate …
—John Gray, Times Literary Supplement, 11 Sept. 1992
So what went wrong? I ask Syd again, glancing ahead to the inevitable end. What quirk of fate, this time round, Syd, checked the great man's stride?
—John le Carré, A Perfect Spy, 1986
Often there is a specified character on whom a work hinges and whose fate we follow, a Raskolnikov or a Hamlet …
—Robert Penn Warren, Democracy and Poetry, 1975
The money goes down one-two-three on the table, fives and tens and twenties, and the wheel begins to spin. Round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows. It's up to fate. Kismet, as they say.
—Mordecai Richler, The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz, 1959
They thought they would never see each other again, but fate brought them back together.
a surprising turn of fate
One company went bankrupt, and a similar fate befell the other.
Her fate was sealed by the marriage arrangement made in her youth.
Verb
Given what was going on when the magazine was started, Utne Reader seems fated to have happened—it was simply an idea that fit the times.
—Eric Utne, Utne Reader, March/April 1994
It was during this interregnum between the acquisition of regional power and the actual use of it that Henderson was fated to enter the picture.
—Robert D. Kaplan, The Arabists, 1993
Who are my viewing companions at this hour? Dazed and confused, we are isolated in sunken couches, empty beds and cheap hotel rooms across this crumbling nation, one through MTV but fated never to meet.
—Hugh Gallagher, Rolling Stone, 29 Apr. 1993
the warning that the lack of an advanced education will fate a person to a lifetime of below-average earnings
John Gray, Times Literary Supplement, 11 Sept. 1992
So what went wrong? I ask Syd again, glancing ahead to the inevitable end. What quirk of fate, this time round, Syd, checked the great man's stride?
—John le Carré, A Perfect Spy, 1986
Often there is a specified character on whom a work hinges and whose fate we follow, a Raskolnikov or a Hamlet …
—Robert Penn Warren, Democracy and Poetry, 1975
The money goes down one-two-three on the table, fives and tens and twenties, and the wheel begins to spin. Round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows. It's up to fate. Kismet, as they say.
—Mordecai Richler, The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz, 1959
They thought they would never see each other again, but fate brought them back together.
a surprising turn of fate
One company went bankrupt, and a similar fate befell the other.
Her fate was sealed by the marriage arrangement made in her youth.
Verb
Given what was going on when the magazine was started, Utne Reader seems fated to have happened—it was simply an idea that fit the times.
—Eric Utne, Utne Reader, March/April 1994
It was during this interregnum between the acquisition of regional power and the actual use of it that Henderson was fated to enter the picture.
—Robert D. Kaplan, The Arabists, 1993
Who are my viewing companions at this hour? Dazed and confused, we are isolated in sunken couches, empty beds and cheap hotel rooms across this crumbling nation, one through MTV but fated never to meet.
—Hugh Gallagher, Rolling Stone, 29 Apr. 1993
the warning that the lack of an advanced education will fate a person to a lifetime of below-average earnings
Recent Examples on the Web
Megan McCluskey, Time, 26 May 2025
The girl must use her brother’s identity to escape death, avoid her fate and rise to power.
—Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 25 May 2025
ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
While the numbers are striking, there’s a growing body of evidence showing that many of these cases may not be genetically fated, but rather could be delayed or prevented altogether by addressing health factors generally within our control.
—Kristen Rogers, CNN Money, 4 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fate
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Noun
The episode then cut to black, meaning Ellie's fate will remain up in the air for a few years until Season 3 eventually rolls around.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 26 May 2025
The girl must use her brother’s identity to escape death, avoid her fate and rise to power.
—Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 25 May 2025
Verb
Perhaps this show, too, is a dream—one from which we are fated to wake sooner, rather than later.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Apr. 2025
While the numbers are striking, there’s a growing body of evidence showing that many of these cases may not be genetically fated, but rather could be delayed or prevented altogether by addressing health factors generally within our control.
—Kristen Rogers, CNN Money, 4 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fate
Cite this Entry
“Fate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fate. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fate
1 of 2 noun1
: a power beyond one's control that is believed to decide what happens
2
: something that happens as though decided by fate
3
: a final result
4
plural capitalized
: the three goddesses in Greek and Roman mythology who decide the course of human life
Medical Definition
fate
noun
: the expected result of normal development
prospective fate of embryonic cells
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