fateful
/ˈfeɪtfəl/adjective
fateful is spelled F-A-T-E-F-U-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 26,776th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, fateful means “Momentous, significant, setting or sealing one’s fate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in fateful?
| Letters | 7: F-A-T-E-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 26,776th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is fateful?
Fateful appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 26,776th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce fateful?
- /ˈfeɪtfəl/
Fateful has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-fateful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fateful
- more fateful comparative
- most fateful superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fateful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Momentous, significant, setting or sealing one’s fate.
It started with that fateful trip, history was never the same afterwards.
- 2
Determined in advance by fate, fated.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fateful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | décisif , fatidique |
| German | schicksalhaft, verhängnisvoll , vorbestimmt |
| Portuguese | fatídico |
| Spanish | funesto |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does fateful come from?
From fate + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).