fate

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /feɪt/ See IPA manual

Homophones

fete /feɪt/

Minimal pairs

Sounds like faith /θ/ vs /t/ Sounds like fet /ɛ/ vs /eɪ/

Freq #1728

Meanings

1

noun
What will happen to someone or something, especially something bad that cannot be avoided.

No one knew the fate of the missing sailors.
2

noun
A power believed to decide events before they happen.

She believed that fate had brought them together.
3

verb
To decide someone's future in advance, making it unavoidable.

He felt he was fated to live a quiet life in his hometown.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · what will happen to someone... destiny fortune lot

2 noun · a power believed to decide... destinynatural order

3 verb · to decide someone's future... doom

More chancedestinfatality foredoom foreordination kismetorlayportion

Opposites

choice luck

Word family

Forms fatesfating

Derived forms fatal fatalism fatalityfate-fraughtfatedfatefraughtfatefulfatelessfatelikefatesome

Related forms determinismindeterminisminevitable inevitably

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

common fate
a perceptual principle by which elements moving together are seen as one group

Adjective + noun

Idioms (1)

See all

tempt fate
to take a needless risk that seems likely to bring trouble

Simplified etymology

Fate came into English in the late Middle Ages from Latin fatum, literally “what has been said,” derived from fari, “to speak.” Fatum first referred to a divine pronouncement or judgment and then to a person’s allotted course of events or destiny.

Etymology

From Middle English fate, from Latin fāta (“prediction”), plural of fātum, from fātus (“spoken”), from for (“to speak”). In this sense, displaced native Old English wyrd, whence Modern English weird.

*bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European fate Middle English fāta Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# fate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /feɪt/
**Frequency rank:** 1728

## Meanings
1. What will happen to someone or something, especially something bad that cannot be avoided.
2. A power believed to decide events before they happen.
3. To decide someone's future in advance, making it unavoidable.

## Examples
- No one knew the fate of the missing sailors.
- She believed that fate had brought them together.
- He felt he was fated to live a quiet life in his hometown.

## Synonyms
- chance
- destin
- destiny
- doom
- fatality
- foredoom
- foreordination
- fortune
- kismet
- lot
- orlay
- portion

## Antonyms
- choice
- luck

## Derived Forms
- fatal
- fatalism
- fatality
- fate-fraught
- fated
- fatefraught
- fateful
- fateless
- fatelike
- fatesome

## Related Forms
- determinism
- indeterminism
- inevitable
- inevitably

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *bʰeh₂-
- Root: fate
- Root: fāta

## Etymology
From Middle English fate, from Latin fāta (“prediction”), plural of fātum, from fātus (“spoken”), from for (“to speak”). In this sense, displaced native Old English wyrd, whence Modern English weird.

## AI Etymology
Fate comes from Middle English fate, from Latin fāta (“prediction”), plural of fātum, from fātus (“spoken”), from for (“to speak”). In this sense, displaced native Old English wyrd, whence Modern English weird. In current use, the main senses are “What will happen to someone or something, especially something bad that cannot be avoided” and “A power believed to decide events before they happen”.

## Topics
- People & Society

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