Fate

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Fate, n. [L. fatum a prophetic declaration, oracle, what is ordained by the gods, destiny, fate, fr. fari to speak: cf. OF. fat. See Fame, Fable, Ban, and cf. 1st Fay, Fairy.].

•  A fixed decree by which the order of things is prescribed; the immutable law of the universe; inevitable necessity; the force by which all existence is determined and conditioned.  [1913 Webster]

  "Necessity and chance
  Approach not me; and what I will is fate."  [1913 Webster]

  "Beyond and above the Olympian gods lay the silent, brooding, everlasting fate of which victim and tyrant were alike the instruments."  [1913 Webster]
•  Appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death.  [1913 Webster]

  "The great, th'important day, big with the fate
  Of Cato and of Rome."  [1913 Webster]

  "Our wills and fates do so contrary run
  That our devices still are overthrown."  [1913 Webster]

  "The whizzing arrow sings,
  And bears thy fate, Antinous, on its wings."  [1913 Webster]
•  The element of chance in the affairs of life; the unforeseen and unestimated conitions considered as a force shaping events; fortune; esp., opposing circumstances against which it is useless to struggle; as, fate was, or the fates were, against him.  [1913 Webster]

  "A brave man struggling in the storms of fate."  [1913 Webster]

  "Sometimes an hour of Fate's serenest weather strikes through our changeful sky its coming beams."  [1913 Webster]
•  The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, sometimes called the Destinies, or Parcæwho were supposed to determine the course of human life. They are represented, one as holding the distaff, a second as spinning, and the third as cutting off the thread.  [1913 Webster]

  " Among all nations it has been common to speak of fate or destiny as a power superior to gods and men -- swaying all things irresistibly. This may be called the fate of poets and mythologists. Philosophical fate is the sum of the laws of the universe, the product of eternal intelligence and the blind properties of matter. Theological fate represents Deity as above the laws of nature, and ordaining all things according to his will -- the expression of that will being the law."  Krauth-Fleming.

Syn. -- Destiny; lot; doom; fortune; chance.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Fate, n. & v.
--n.
1 a power regarded as predetermining events unalterably.
2 a the future regarded as determined by such a power. b an individual's appointed lot. c the ultimate condition or end of a person or thing (that sealed our fate).
3 death, destruction.
4 (usu. Fate) a goddess of destiny, esp. one of three Greek or Scandinavian goddesses.
--v.tr.
1 (usu. in passive) preordain (was fated to win).
2 (as fated adj.) doomed to destruction.

Idiom

fate worse than death see DEATH.

Etymology

ME f. It. fato & L fatum that which is spoken, f. fari speak

THESAURUS

Fate

Friday, Friday the thirteenth, Heaven, Paradise, Z, a better place, accidentality, act of God, actuarial calculation, adventitiousness, afterlife, afterworld, allocate, allot, allotment, allowance, apodosis, appoint, appointed lot, appropriate to, assign, assign to, astral influences, astrology, bane, big end, bigger half, bit, bite, book of fate, break, budget, casualness, catastrophe, ceasing, certainty, cessation, chance, chunk, circumstance, coda, collapse, commission, conclusion, consequence, constellation, consummation, contingent, crack of doom, culmination, cup, curtain, curtains, cut, deal, death, death knell, deathblow, decease, denouement, destinate, destination, destine, destiny, destruction, detail, determine, devote, dies funestis, disaster, disposition, dividend, dole, doom, downfall, earmark, effect, end, end point, ending, envoi, epilogue, equal share, eschatology, eternal home, expiration, fatality, fatefulness, final solution, final twitch, final words, finale, finality, finis, finish, flukiness, force majeure, foredoom, fortuitousness, fortuity, fortune, future, future state, gamble, goal, good fortune, good luck, half, halver, hap, happenstance, happy chance, heedless hap, helping, home, how they fall, ides of March, indefeasibility, indeterminacy, indeterminateness, ineluctability, inescapableness, inevasibleness, inevitability, inevitable accident, inevitableness, inexorability, inflexibility, interest, irrevocability, issue, izzard, karma, kismet, last, last breath, last gasp, last things, last trumpet, last words, latter end, law of averages, life, life after death, life to come, lot, luck, make assignments, mark, mark off, mark out for, measure, meed, mess, modicum, moiety, moira, necessity, nemesis, next world, omega, opportunity, ordain, otherworld, outcome, part, payoff, percentage, period, peroration, piece, planets, portion, portion off, postexistence, predetermination, preordain, principle of indeterminacy, probability, problematicness, proportion, providence, quantum, quietus, quota, rake-off, random sample, ration, relentlessness, reserve, resolution, resting place, restrict, restrict to, result, risk, ruin, run of luck, schedule, segment, serendipity, set, set apart, set aside, set off, share, slice, small share, stake, stars, statistical probability, stock, stoppage, stopping place, sureness, swan song, tag, term, terminal, termination, terminus, the beyond, the breaks, the good hereafter, the grave, the great beyond, the great hereafter, the hereafter, the unknown, theory of probability, unavoidable casualty, unavoidableness, uncertainty, uncertainty principle, uncontrollability, undeflectability, undoing, unlucky day, unpreventability, unyieldingness, upshot, vis major, weird, what bodes, what is fated, whatever comes, wheel of fortune, will of Heaven, windup, world to come

ROGET THESAURUS

Fate

Necessity

N necessity, involuntariness, instinct, blind impulse, inborn proclivity, innate proclivity, native tendency, natural tendency, natural impulse, predetermination, necessity, necessitation, obligation, compulsion, subjection, stern necessity, hard necessity, dire necessity, imperious necessity, inexorable necessity, iron necessity, adverse necessity, fate, what must be, destiny, destination, fatality, fate, kismet, doom, foredoom, election, predestination, preordination, foreordination, lot fortune, fatalism, inevitableness, spell, star, stars, planet, planets, astral influence, sky, Fates, Parcae, Sisters three, book of fate, God's will, will of Heaven, wheel of Fortune, Ides of March, Hobson's choice, last shift, last resort, dernier ressort, pis aller, necessaries, necessarian, necessitarian, fatalist, automaton, necessary, needful, fated, destined, elect, spellbound compulsory, uncontrollable, inevitable, unavoidable, irresistible, irrevocable, inexorable, avoidless, resistless, involuntary, instinctive, automatic, blind, mechanical, unconscious, unwitting, unthinking, unintentional, impulsive, necessarily, of necessity, of course, ex necessitate rei, needs must, perforce, nolens volens, will he nil he, willy nilly, bon gre mal gre, willing or unwilling, coute que coute, faute de mieux, by stress of, if need be, it cannot be helped, there is no help for, there is no helping it, it will be, it must be, it needs to be, it must be so, it will have its way, the die is cast, jacta est alea, che sara sara, it is written, one's days are numbered, one's fate is sealed, Fata obstant, diis aliter visum, actum me invito factus, non est meus actus, aujord'hui roi demain rien, quisque suos patimur manes, The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, Nor all thy piety nor wit shall draw it back to ca, necessity, involuntariness, instinct, blind impulse, inborn proclivity, innate proclivity, native tendency, natural tendency, natural impulse, predetermination, necessity, necessitation, obligation, compulsion, subjection, stern necessity, hard necessity, dire necessity, imperious necessity, inexorable necessity, iron necessity, adverse necessity, fate, what must be, destiny, destination, fatality, fate, kismet, doom, foredoom, election, predestination, preordination, foreordination, lot fortune, fatalism, inevitableness, spell, star, stars, planet, planets, astral influence, sky, Fates, Parcae, Sisters three, book of fate, God's will, will of Heaven, wheel of Fortune, Ides of March, Hobson's choice, last shift, last resort, dernier ressort, pis aller, necessaries, necessarian, necessitarian, fatalist, automaton, necessary, needful, fated, destined, elect, spellbound compulsory, uncontrollable, inevitable, unavoidable, irresistible, irrevocable, inexorable, avoidless, resistless, involuntary, instinctive, automatic, blind, mechanical, unconscious, unwitting, unthinking, unintentional, impulsive, necessarily, of necessity, of course, ex necessitate rei, needs must, perforce, nolens volens, will he nil he, willy nilly, bon gre mal gre, willing or unwilling, coute que coute, faute de mieux, by stress of, if need be, it cannot be helped, there is no help for, there is no helping it, it will be, it must be, it needs to be, it must be so, it will have its way, the die is cast, jacta est alea, che sara sara, it is written, one's days are numbered, one's fate is sealed, Fata obstant, diis aliter visum, actum me invito factus, non est meus actus, aujord'hui roi demain rien, quisque suos patimur manes, The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, Nor all thy piety nor wit shall draw it back to ca.

Predetermination

N predestination, preordination, premeditation, predeliberation, predetermination, foregone conclusion, fait accompli, parti pris, resolve, propendency, intention, project, fate, foredoom, necessity, prepense, premeditated, predesignated, predesigned, advised, studied, designed, calculated, aforethought, intended, foregone, well-laid, well-devised, well-weighed, maturely considered, cunning, advisedly, with premeditation, deliberately, all things considered, with eyes open, in cold blood, intentionally.

Chance

N chance, lot, fate, luck, good luck, mascot, speculation, venture, stake, game of chance, mere shot, random shot, blind bargain, leap in the dark, pig in a poke, fluke, potluck, faro bank, flyer, limit, uncertainty, uncertainty principle, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, drawing lots, sortilegy, sortition, sortes, sortes Virgilianae, rouge et noir, hazard, ante, chuck-a-luck, crack-loo, craps, faro, roulette, pitch and toss, chuck, farthing, cup tossing, heads or tails cross and pile, poker-dice, wager, bet, betting, gambling, the turf, gaming house, gambling house, betting house, bucket shop, gambling joint, totalizator, totalizer, hell, betting ring, dice, dice box, gambler, gamester, man of the turf, adventurer, dicer, fortuitous, unintentional, unintended, accidental, not meant, undesigned, purposed, unpremeditated, unforeseen, uncontemplated, never thought of, random, indiscriminate, promiscuous, undirected, aimless, driftless, designless, purposeless, causeless, without purpose, possible, unforeseeable, unpredictable, chancy, risky, speculative, dicey, randomly, by chance, fortuitously, unpredictably, unforeseeably, casually, unintentionally, unwittingly, en passant, by the way, incidentally, as it may happen, at random, at a venture, at haphazard, acierta errando, dextro tempore, fearful concatenation of circumstances, fortuitous combination of circumstances, le jeu est le fils d'avarice et le pere du desespo, the happy combination of fortuitous circumstances, the fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms, God does not play dice with the universe, chance, indetermination, accident, fortune, hazard, hap, haphazard, chance medley, random, luck, raccroc, casualty, contingence, adventure, hit, fate, equal chance, lottery, tombola, toss up, turn of the table, turn of the cards, hazard of the die, chapter of accidents, fickle finger of fate, cast of the dice, throw of the dice, heads or tails, flip of a coin, wheel of Fortune, sortes, sortes Virgilianae, probability, possibility, odds, long odds, run of luck, accidentalness, main chance, odds on, favorable odds, contingency, dependence (uncertainty), situation (circumstance), statistics, theory of Probabilities, theory of Chances, bookmaking, assurance, speculation, gaming, casual, fortuitous, accidental, adventitious, causeless, incidental, contingent, uncaused, undetermined, indeterminate, random, statistical, possible, unintentional, by chance, accidentally, by accident, casually, perchance, for aught one knows, as good would have it, as bad would have it, as luck would have it, as ill-luck would have it, as chance would have it, as it may be, as it may chance, as it may turn up, as it may happen, as the case may be, grasps the skirts of happy chance, the accident of an accident, There but for the grace of God go I, chance, lot, fate, luck, good luck, mascot, speculation, venture, stake, game of chance, mere shot, random shot, blind bargain, leap in the dark, pig in a poke, fluke, potluck, faro bank, flyer, limit, uncertainty, uncertainty principle, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, drawing lots, sortilegy, sortition, sortes, sortes Virgilianae, rouge et noir, hazard, ante, chuck-a-luck, crack-loo, craps, faro, roulette, pitch and toss, chuck, farthing, cup tossing, heads or tails cross and pile, poker-dice, wager, bet, betting, gambling, the turf, gaming house, gambling house, betting house, bucket shop, gambling joint, totalizator, totalizer, hell, betting ring, dice, dice box, gambler, gamester, man of the turf, adventurer, dicer, fortuitous, unintentional, unintended, accidental, not meant, undesigned, purposed, unpremeditated, unforeseen, uncontemplated, never thought of, random, indiscriminate, promiscuous, undirected, aimless, driftless, designless, purposeless, causeless, without purpose, possible, unforeseeable, unpredictable, chancy, risky, speculative, dicey, randomly, by chance, fortuitously, unpredictably, unforeseeably, casually, unintentionally, unwittingly, en passant, by the way, incidentally, as it may happen, at random, at a venture, at haphazard, acierta errando, dextro tempore, fearful concatenation of circumstances, fortuitous combination of circumstances, le jeu est le fils d'avarice et le pere du desespo, the happy combination of fortuitous circumstances, the fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms, God does not play dice with the universe, chance, indetermination, accident, fortune, hazard, hap, haphazard, chance medley, random, luck, raccroc, casualty, contingence, adventure, hit, fate, equal chance, lottery, tombola, toss up, turn of the table, turn of the cards, hazard of the die, chapter of accidents, fickle finger of fate, cast of the dice, throw of the dice, heads or tails, flip of a coin, wheel of Fortune, sortes, sortes Virgilianae, probability, possibility, odds, long odds, run of luck, accidentalness, main chance, odds on, favorable odds, contingency, dependence (uncertainty), situation (circumstance), statistics, theory of Probabilities, theory of Chances, bookmaking, assurance, speculation, gaming, casual, fortuitous, accidental, adventitious, causeless, incidental, contingent, uncaused, undetermined, indeterminate, random, statistical, possible, unintentional, by chance, accidentally, by accident, casually, perchance, for aught one knows, as good would have it, as bad would have it, as luck would have it, as ill-luck would have it, as chance would have it, as it may be, as it may chance, as it may turn up, as it may happen, as the case may be, grasps the skirts of happy chance, the accident of an accident, There but for the grace of God go I.

End

N end, close, termination, desinence, conclusion, finis, finale, period, term, terminus, endpoint, last, omega, extreme, extremity, gable end, butt end, fag-end, tip, nib, point, tail, verge, tag, peroration, bonne bouche, bottom dollar, tail end, rear guard, consummation, denouement, finish, fate, doom, doomsday, crack of doom, day of Judgment, dies irae, fall of the curtain, goal, destination, limit, determination, expiration, expiry, extinction, extermination, death, end of all things, finality, eschatology, break up, commencement de la fin, last stage, turning point, coup de grace, deathblow, knock-out-blow, sockdolager, ending, final, terminal, definitive, crowning, last, ultimate, hindermost, rear, caudal, vergent, conterminate, conterminous, conterminable, ended, at an end, settled, decided, over, played out, set at rest, conclusive, penultimate, last but one, last but two, unbegun, uncommenced, fresh, finally, in fine, at the last, once for all, as high as Heaven and as deep as hell, deficit omne quod nascitur, en toute chose il faut considerer la fin, finem respice, ultimus Romanorum.