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
Synonyms
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 WebLily Altavena, Detroit Free Press, 7 Apr. 2024
This would require imagining a new Rwanda that transcended ethnic differences, in which individual endowment, lofty dreams, hard work, and a bit of luck determined one’s fate rather than the accident of birth.
—Jonathan M. Hansen, TIME, 7 Apr. 2024
Sacramento suffered a 120-109 loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday in the first game of a four-game road trip that could seal their fate as a play-in team after earning the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs last season.
—Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 5 Apr. 2024
Ahead of a hearing in March that sealed Smith's fate, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond put out a formal request to the state's Pardon and Parole Board, asking them to deny his plea for clemency.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2024
Matar’s mother calls her husband the Absent-Present, suggestive of the enduring uncertainty about his fate.
—Hazlitt, 3 Apr. 2024
Then, in the mid-1900s, Lewisburg’s fate began to change with the arrival of I-71/75 and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
—The Enquirer, 3 Apr. 2024
The divide is the result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that stripped federal protection from millions of acres of wetlands that had been covered under the Clean Water Act — leaving their fate up to the states.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2024
The spectrum of outcomes for Cortes, Rodón, and Stroman will determine the Yankees’ fate in 2023.
—Daniel R. Epstein, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
If South had the jack of hearts, he was fated to succeed.
—Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2024
Born just three days apart in the same hospital in 1947, they were fated to become the best of friends.
—Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 29 Feb. 2024
The actress and director, 42, revealed that the way she and Gabel, also 42, happened upon the home was nothing short of fated in a new archdigest.com tour.
—Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 31 Jan. 2024
It’s made to be perched atop your head and, thanks to a sound brick, will deem what house you’re fated to.
—Melissa Epifano, EW.com, 1 Mar. 2024
Her hardscrabble youth is marked by intense memories that fated her to a life of performance.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2024
But where Weed were fated to remain underground heroes, Cartwheel is poised to be Anderson’s breakthrough.
—Quinn Moreland, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2023
After that, your journey is mostly fated to what seasonal seafood lurks in the depths of the open kitchen.
—Ben Jarrell, Charlotte Observer, 31 Jan. 2024
Noun
On Tuesday, Jennifer and James Crumbley will learn their fate before Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews, who will sentence them for their part in the deaths of Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17.
—Lily Altavena, Detroit Free Press, 7 Apr. 2024
This would require imagining a new Rwanda that transcended ethnic differences, in which individual endowment, lofty dreams, hard work, and a bit of luck determined one’s fate rather than the accident of birth.
—Jonathan M. Hansen, TIME, 7 Apr. 2024
Sacramento suffered a 120-109 loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday in the first game of a four-game road trip that could seal their fate as a play-in team after earning the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs last season.
—Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 5 Apr. 2024
Ahead of a hearing in March that sealed Smith's fate, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond put out a formal request to the state's Pardon and Parole Board, asking them to deny his plea for clemency.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2024
Matar’s mother calls her husband the Absent-Present, suggestive of the enduring uncertainty about his fate.
—Hazlitt, 3 Apr. 2024
Then, in the mid-1900s, Lewisburg’s fate began to change with the arrival of I-71/75 and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
—The Enquirer, 3 Apr. 2024
The divide is the result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that stripped federal protection from millions of acres of wetlands that had been covered under the Clean Water Act — leaving their fate up to the states.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2024
The spectrum of outcomes for Cortes, Rodón, and Stroman will determine the Yankees’ fate in 2023.
—Daniel R. Epstein, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
Verb
Patel began filming before the pandemic, and finishing the movie was a trial; it was fated for a streaming release until filmmaker and producer Jordan Peele intervened on its behalf.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
If South had the jack of hearts, he was fated to succeed.
—Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2024
Born just three days apart in the same hospital in 1947, they were fated to become the best of friends.
—Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 29 Feb. 2024
The actress and director, 42, revealed that the way she and Gabel, also 42, happened upon the home was nothing short of fated in a new archdigest.com tour.
—Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 31 Jan. 2024
It’s made to be perched atop your head and, thanks to a sound brick, will deem what house you’re fated to.
—Melissa Epifano, EW.com, 1 Mar. 2024
Her hardscrabble youth is marked by intense memories that fated her to a life of performance.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2024
But where Weed were fated to remain underground heroes, Cartwheel is poised to be Anderson’s breakthrough.
—Quinn Moreland, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2023
After that, your journey is mostly fated to what seasonal seafood lurks in the depths of the open kitchen.
—Ben Jarrell, Charlotte Observer, 31 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near fate
Cite this Entry
“Fate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fate. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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 classical 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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