1
: having a quality of ominous prophecy
a fateful remark
2
a
: involving momentous consequences : decisive
made his fateful decision to declare war—
W. L. Shirer
W. L. Shirer
b
3
: controlled by fate : foreordained
fatefulness
noun
Examples of fateful in a Sentence
His life changed on that fateful November evening.
Hundreds perished on that fateful day.
Her campaign took a fateful turn.
Recent Examples on the Web
Castellanos played a single into a double in the fateful four-run seventh inning because even 36-year-old Freddie Freeman knows to take the extra base on Castellanos.
—Matt Gelb, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
The ship remained stuck there for nearly eight months, until the fateful day when the pressure from the ice crushed it like a beer can in a hydraulic vice.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside, 7 Oct. 2025
The year after their fateful encounter, Held also began writing a weekly romance-recommendation newsletter that now has more than 9,000 subscribers.
—Rebecca Ackermann, The Atlantic, 5 Oct. 2025
In this scene, the Italian leaves Knox’s lips far easier than those fateful days in the police station, and in the midst of a tense life, the show turns wistfully romantic one last time.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fateful
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Matt Gelb, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
The ship remained stuck there for nearly eight months, until the fateful day when the pressure from the ice crushed it like a beer can in a hydraulic vice.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside, 7 Oct. 2025
The year after their fateful encounter, Held also began writing a weekly romance-recommendation newsletter that now has more than 9,000 subscribers.
—Rebecca Ackermann, The Atlantic, 5 Oct. 2025
In this scene, the Italian leaves Knox’s lips far easier than those fateful days in the police station, and in the midst of a tense life, the show turns wistfully romantic one last time.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 1 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fateful
Cite this Entry
“Fateful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fateful. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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