The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fate \Fate\ (f[=a]t), n. [L. fatum a prophetic declaration, oracle, what is ordained by the gods, destiny, fate, fr. fari to speak: cf. OF. fat. See Fame, Fable, Ban, and cf. 1st Fay, Fairy.]
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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 fate.
--Milton.Beyond and above the Olympian gods lay the silent, brooding, everlasting fate of which victim and tyrant were alike the instruments.
--Froude. -
Appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death.
The great, th'important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome.
--Addison.Our wills and fates do so contrary run That our devices still are overthrown.
--Shak.The whizzing arrow sings, And bears thy fate, Antinous, on its wings.
--Pope. -
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 him.
A 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. -
pl. [L. Fata, pl. of fatum.] (Myth.) The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, sometimes called the Destinies, or Parc[ae]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.
Note: Among all nations it has been common to speak of fate or destiny as a power superior to gods and men -- swaying all things irresistibly. This may be called the fate of poets and mythologists. Philosophical fate is the sum of the laws of the universe, the product of eternal intelligence and the blind properties of matter. Theological fate represents Deity as above the laws of nature, and ordaining all things according to his will -- the expression of that will being the law.
--Krauth-Fleming.Syn: Destiny; lot; doom; fortune; chance.
Destiny \Des"ti*ny\, n.; pl. Destinies. [OE. destinee, destene, F. destin['e]e, from destiner. See Destine.]
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That to which any person or thing is destined; predetermined state; condition foreordained by the Divine or by human will; fate; lot; doom.
Thither he Will come to know his destiny.
--Shak.No man of woman born, Coward or brave, can shun his destiny.
--Bryant. -
The fixed order of things; invincible necessity; fate; a resistless power or agency conceived of as determining the future, whether in general or of an individual.
But who can turn the stream of destiny?
--Spenser.Fame comes only when deserved, and then is as inevitable as destiny, for it is destiny.
--Longfellow.The Destinies (Anc. Myth.), the three Parc[ae], or Fates; the supposed powers which preside over human life, and determine its circumstances and duration.
Marked by the Destinies to be avoided.
--Shak.
Wiktionary
n. (plural of destiny English)
Usage examples of "destinies".
The forces that shape our lives and our destinies, the coincidences and the patterns - are these all without rhyme or reason?
She wondered why no one had tossed out the copy of the program from Bitter Destinies or the baggage claim receipt from Diplo or the ragged scrap on which she'd jotted the room number on Liaka where the medical team would assemble.
She had not said anything about the opera Bitter Destinies except that Zebara had taken her to an opera.
As two High Families members trained for a life of service to Central, just setting out to meet their destinies, they should have felt an instant sense of kinship.
New Destinies had a reputation as one of those places that looked the other way.
With so many suspect elements sharing the station's amenities, New Destinies has a fairly sophisticated security system.
At least as far as New Destinies is concerned—I deal in arms, mostly, and fencing loot—and the local police give excellent value for money.
Tricking the New Destinies into giving her a cover story by fining her had been a good idea.
New Destinies is well supplied with lawyers who are specialists in dealing with the Bureau.
What you could do, is, buy up her debt to New Destinies and offer her the opportunity to work it off.
Or I'll take her ship just as happily and just as legally as New Destinies would.
And a return message from New Destinies confirmed that he really had ordered Sal to pay this exorbitant fine for a ship named Wyal.
So what's he doing on New Destinies playing Lord Bountiful with his department's budget?
What you could do, is, buy up her debt to New Destinies and offer her the opportunity to work it off.
Certainly, even twins and litter mates follow different destinies, this itself expressing the difference of the more inward patterns of the Formative Mind.