fatality

Definition

The state proceeding from destiny; invincible necessity, superior to, and independent of, free and rational control.

Etymology

From French fatalité. equivalent to fatal + -ity. The video game move sense was popularized by the Mortal Kombat series.

Example Sentences

• "What can I say, or think of this most terrible of fatalities?"
• "the whole thing felt like being in a near traffic fatality avoided by inches and later not being able to think of the whole thing lest you begin shaking..."
• "My first enchantment with computers came when I was about six years old, in Montreal in the early nineties, playing Mortal Kombat with my oldest brother. He told me about some “fatalities”—gruesome, witty ways of killing your opponent."