fatality
C1Formal, journalistic, medical/legal technical, official reports.
Definition
Meaning
A death resulting from an accident, disaster, illness, or violent act; the quality of being destined to cause death.
The condition of being fated or doomed; an inevitable and often disastrous outcome. In computing/gaming, a fatal error causing a system or program crash.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Strongly associated with official reports, statistics, and news contexts. Implies an external, often sudden cause. Not typically used for death from natural old age.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
Usage is largely identical. 'Fatality rate' is common in both. Slight preference for 'death toll' in UK media alongside 'fatalities'.
Connotations
Both carry a formal, impersonal, statistical tone. In gaming, 'Fatality' is strongly associated with the Mortal Kombat franchise globally.
Frequency
Comparably frequent in news and official contexts. Slightly more common in US traffic/accident reporting.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
There was/were [NUMBER] fatality/fatalitiesThe [EVENT] resulted in [NUMBER] fatalitiesThe [CAUSE] caused a fatalityA fatality was reported at/in [LOCATION]Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “A fatality waiting to happen (describing a very dangerous situation)”
- “Cheat fate/fatality (to narrowly avoid death)”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
In risk assessment reports: 'The policy aims to eliminate workplace fatalities.'
Academic
In epidemiology: 'The study calculated the case fatality ratio for the disease.'
Everyday
In news discussion: 'The earthquake is feared to have caused many fatalities.'
Technical
In traffic engineering: 'The junction redesign reduced fatalities by 40%.'
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- The crash was so severe it was feared it would fatality injure the driver. (rare, awkward)
- The system error will fatality terminate the process. (technical)
American English
- The design flaw could fatality compromise the vehicle's safety. (rare)
- The bug is known to fatality crash the application. (technical)
adverb
British English
- The car struck the wall fatality. (extremely rare and unidiomatic; use 'fatally')
- The patient did not deteriorate fatality.
American English
- The procedure did not end fatality. (ungrammatical)
- The error did not manifest fatality. (ungrammatical)
adjective
British English
- The inquiry focused on the fatality statistics from the previous year. (noun used attributively)
- It was a fatality incident, unlike the others that night.
American English
- The fatality data has been submitted to the federal agency.
- They reviewed all fatality crashes in the state.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- The car accident caused one fatality.
- There were no fatalities in the fire.
- Officials are working to reduce road fatalities.
- The storm resulted in several fatalities across the region.
- The fatality rate for the disease has dropped due to vaccination.
- An investigation is launched after every industrial fatality.
- Despite the plane's critical failure, the pilot managed to land it without any fatalities.
- The report analysed the demographic factors associated with higher traffic fatality figures.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of 'fatal' (causing death) + '-ity' (making it a noun). A 'fatality' is a fatal event's result.
Conceptual Metaphor
DEATH IS A FINAL RECKONING / STATISTIC. Often conceptualised as a number in a tally or a line in a report.
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Avoid direct calque from 'фатальность' (fatalism/inevitability). 'Fatality' is about actual death, not just a doomed feeling. For 'фатальность', use 'fatalism' or 'inevitability'.
Common Mistakes
- Using it for any death (e.g., 'his fatality from cancer' – awkward; 'death' is better). Confusing with 'mortality' (which is the general condition of being subject to death). Using plural for a single death is correct: 'One fatality was reported.'
Practice
Quiz
In which context is the word 'fatality' LEAST appropriate?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Overwhelmingly yes, especially in news and official contexts. In very technical ecological or engineering reports, it might occasionally refer to the 'death' of a system or species, but 'human fatality' is the default.
'Fatality' specifically means a death. 'Casualty' can mean a person killed OR injured. 'Mortality' is the broader state of being subject to death or the death rate for a population.
Not standardly. The adjective is 'fatal'. 'Fatality' is sometimes used 'attributively' (like a noun modifying another noun) in phrases like 'fatality rate' or 'fatality data'.
Because it is commonly used in statistical, reporting, and news contexts where multiple deaths are being counted or summarized.