fataladjective
uk/ˈfeɪ.təl/us/ˈfeɪ.t̬əl/B2 A fatal illness, accident, etc. causes death:
This illness is fatal in almost all cases.
the fatal shooting of an unarmed 15-year-old
B2 very serious and having an important bad effect in the future:
He made the fatal mistake/error of believing what they told him.
It just shows how you should never say how well things are going for you - it's fatal (= it causes bad things to happen).
More examples
- The conspirators' plot failed because they made two fatal miscalculations.
- Hepatitis is a potentially fatal disease.
- It is a form of anaemia which is nearly always fatal if left untreated.
- There's a fatal flaw in your reasoning.
- The police are investigating a fatal car crash that occurred last night.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Killing
- assisted suicide
- commit suicide idiom
- decimation
- destroy
- do for sb/sth
- drown
- early
- electrocute
- end it (all) idiom
- finish
- hara-kiri
- immolate
- killer
- life-threatening
- mercy killing
- mortally
- shooting
- slaughterhouse
- suicide
- terminal
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Serious and severe
fatally
adverb uk/ˈfeɪ.təl.i/us/ˈfeɪ.t̬əl.i/
Several people were injured, two fatally (= they died as a result).