fatal

4 definitions • 8 examples

A fatal illness, accident, etc. causes death:

This illness is fatal in almost all cases.

fatal shooting the fatal shooting of an unarmed 15-year-old

very serious and having an important bad effect in the future:

fatal mistake He made the fatal mistake of believing what they told him.

fatal error Allowing Rick to leave the group was a fatal error.

It just shows how you should never say how well things are going for you - it's fatal (= it causes bad things to happen).

fatal flaw There's a fatal flaw in your reasoning.

(of illness, accidents, etc.) causing death:

a fatal heart attack

Fatal can also mean severe enough to produce a very bad result:

a fatal mistake/flaw