Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Fate
Fate
(fāt)
, Noun.
1.
A fixed decree by which the order of things is prescribed; the immutable law of the universe; inevitable necessity; the force by which all existence is determined and conditioned.
Necessity and chance
Approach not me; and what I will is
Approach not me; and what I will is
fate
. Milton.
Beyond and above the Olympian gods lay the silent, brooding, everlasting
fate
of which victim and tyrant were alike the instruments. Froude.
2.
Appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death.
The great, th’important day, big with the
Of Cato and of Rome.
fate
Of Cato and of Rome.
Addison.
Our wills and
That our devices still are overthrown.
fates
do so contrary runThat our devices still are overthrown.
Shakespeare
The whizzing arrow sings,
And bears thy fate
, Antinous, on its wings. Pope.
3.
The element of chance in the affairs of life; the unforeseen and unestimated conitions considered as a force shaping events; fortune; esp., opposing circumstances against which it is useless to struggle;
as,
. fate
was, or the fates
were, against himA brave man struggling in the storms of
fate
. Pope.
Sometimes an hour of
Fate's
serenest weather strikes through our changeful sky its coming beams. B. Taylor.
4.
pl.
[L.
Fata
, pl. of fatum
.] (Myth.)
The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, sometimes called the
Destinies
, or Parcæ
who were supposed to determine the course of human life. They are represented, one as holding the distaff, a second as spinning, and the third as cutting off the thread.
Syn. – Destiny; lot; doom; fortune; chance.
Webster 1828 Edition
Fate
FATE
,Noun.
1.
Primarily, a decree or word pronounced by God; or a fixed sentence by which the order of things is prescribed. Hence, inevitable necessity; destiny depending on a superior cause and uncontrollable. According to the Stoics, every event is determined by fate.Necessity or chancenot me; and what I will is fate.
2.
Event predetermined; lot; destiny. It is our fate to meet with disappointments. It is the fate of mortals.
Tell me what fates attend the duke of Suffolk?
3.
Final event; death; destruction.Yet still he chose the longest way to fate.
The whizzing arrow sings,
And bears thy fate, Antinous, on its wings.
4.
Cause of death. Dryden calls an arrow a feathered fate.Divine fate, the order or determination of God; providence.