# fatal

Pronunciation: say "FAY-tuhl" /ˈfeɪ.təl/

## Adjective

1. Causing death or destruction.
   - Simple: Able to cause death or serious harm.
   - _The collision proved fatal to three passengers._
   - _A single mistake at that altitude can be fatal for climbers._
3. In computing, bringing the execution of a program to an abrupt halt.
   - Simple: Making a computer program stop working all at once.
   - _The program hit a fatal exception and shut down._
   - _A fatal bug forced the application to quit unexpectedly._

## Noun

2. A death, or an event that results in someone's death.
   - Simple: A death caused by an accident or violent event.
   - _Investigators recorded the wreck as a fatal._
   - _The intersection has seen several fatals this year._
4. An error or failure that forces a program to stop running.
   - Simple: A computer problem so bad that the program has to stop.
   - _The compiler reported a fatal and stopped the build._
   - _Repeated fatals in the logs pointed to a memory leak._

## Adjective

5. Giving warning of approaching death or great disaster. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Warning that death or great trouble is coming.
   - _A fatal hush settled on the court as the omen was read aloud._
   - _She heard the owl's cry as a fatal sign of coming sorrow._
6. Resulting from fate or fixed in advance by it. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Decided by fate and certain to happen.
   - _The poet wrote of a fatal bond that destiny itself had decreed._
   - _They regarded the prophecy as a fatal decree, beyond any man's power to change._

## Origin

From Middle French "fatal", which comes from Latin "fatalis", meaning "fatal".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fatal (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).