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Adverse vs Fatal - What's the difference?

adverse | fatal | Related terms |

Adverse is a related term of fatal.


As adjectives the difference between adverse and fatal

is that adverse is unfavorable; antagonistic in purpose or effect; hostile; actively opposing one's interests or wishes; contrary to one's welfare; acting against; working in an opposing direction while fatal is proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.

As a noun fatal is

a fatality; an event that leads to death.

adverse

Adjective

(er)
  • Unfavorable; antagonistic in purpose or effect; hostile; actively opposing one's interests or wishes; contrary to one's welfare; acting against; working in an opposing direction.
  • adverse criticism
  • * Southey
  • Happy were it for us all if we bore prosperity as well and wisely as we endure an adverse fortune.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=December 14 , author=Steven Morris , title=Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , work=Guardian citation , page= , passage=He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.}}
  • Opposed; contrary; opposing one's interests or desire.
  • adverse circumstances.
  • (not comparable) Opposite; confronting.
  • the adverse page
    the adverse party
  • * 1809 , , Google Books
  • Calpe's adverse height / must greet my sight

    Usage notes

    Adverse'' is sometimes confused with (averse), though the meanings are somewhat different. ''Adverse'' most often refers to things, denoting something that is in opposition to someone's interests — something one might refer to as an (adversity) or (adversary) — (''adverse winds''; ''an attitude adverse to our ideals''). ''Averse'' usually refers to people, and implies one has a distaste, disinclination, or (aversion) toward something (''a leader averse to war''; ''an investor averse to risk taking''). ''Averse'' is most often used with "''to''" in a construction like "''I am averse to…''". ''Adverse shows up less often in this type of construction, describing a person instead of a thing, and should carry a meaning of "actively opposed to" rather that "has an aversion to".

    Derived terms

    * adversely * adverseness

    See also

    * averse

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    fatal

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
  • Foreboding]] or great [[#Noun, disaster.
  • *
  • *:Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability:it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
  • Causing death or destruction.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Philip J. Bushnell
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance , passage=Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.}}
  • (lb) Causing a sudden end to the running of a program.
  • :
  • Synonyms

    * (proceeding from fate) inevitable, necessary * (foreboding death) terminal * (causing death) calamitous, deadly, destructive, mortal

    Derived terms

    * fatalism * fatalistic * fatality * fatally * nonfatal * nonfatally

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fatality; an event that leads to death.
  • * 1999 , Flying Magazine (volume 126, number 4, April 1999, page 15)
  • The best accident rate in general aviation is in corporate/executive flying at 0.17 per 100000 hours for fatals and .50 for total accidents.
  • (computing) A fatal error; a failure that causes a program to terminate.
  • Anagrams

    * ----