What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Fatal vs Melancholy - What's the difference?

fatal | melancholy | Related terms |

Fatal is a related term of melancholy.


As adjectives the difference between fatal and melancholy

is that fatal is proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny while melancholy is affected with great sadness or depression.

As nouns the difference between fatal and melancholy

is that fatal is a fatality; an event that leads to death while melancholy is (historical) black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.

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

    * ----

    melancholy

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Affected with great sadness or depression.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
    • , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes

    Synonyms

    * (thoughtful sadness) (l) * See also

    Noun

    (melancholies)
  • (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
  • *, Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148:
    • Melancholy , cold and dry, thick, black, and sour,is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.
  • Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
  • * 1593 , (William Shakespeare), , V. i. 34:
    • My mind was troubled with deep melancholy .

    Related terms

    * melancholic * sadness