fate

Etymology

From Latin fata (“prediction”), plural of fatum, from fatus (“spoken”), from for (“to speak”). In this sense, displaced native Old English wyrd, whence Modern English weird.

noun

1. The presumed cause, force, principle, or divine will that predetermines events.
2. The effect, consequence, outcome, or inevitable events predetermined by this cause.
3. An event or a situation which is inevitable in the fullness of time.
4. Destiny; often with a connotation of death, ruin, misfortune, etc.
   Accept your fate.
5. (mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Fate (one of the goddesses said to control the destiny of human beings).
6. (biochemistry) The products of a chemical reaction in their final form in the biosphere.
   It’s important to research chemical fate because chemical fate is the best tool we have for understanding and managing human health risks or environmental damage caused by chemical release. July 12, 2019, Danielle Freeman, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, retrieved 2022-08-02
7. (embryology) The mature endpoint of a region, group of cells or individual cell in an embryo, including all changes leading to that mature endpoint

verb

1. (transitive) To foreordain or predetermine, to make inevitable.
   The oracle's prediction fated Oedipus to kill his father; not all his striving could change what would occur.
   At the conclusion of this part, Eric, who plays Jesus and is now a soldier, captures Violet in the forest, fating her to a concentration camp. 2011, James Al-Shamma, Sarah Ruhl: A Critical Study of the Plays, page 119