FATE, n. [L. fatum, from for, fari, to speak, whence fatus.] 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.
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