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Fatal vs Severe - What's the difference?

fatal | severe |

As adjectives the difference between fatal and severe

is that fatal is proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny while severe is severe, harsh.

As a noun fatal

is a fatality; an event that leads to death.

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

    * ----

    severe

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Very bad or intense.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author=Donald Worster , title=A Drier and Hotter Future , volume=100, issue=1, page=70 , magazine= citation , passage=Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.}}
  • Strict or harsh.
  • Sober, plain in appearance, austere.

    • Synonyms

    * brutal * extreme * hard * harsh * intense * rigorous * serious

    Antonyms

    * (very bad or intense) mild * (very bad or intense) minor * (strict or harsh) lenient

    Derived terms

    * severely (adverb) * severity (noun) * severeness (noun)

    External links

    * * *

    Anagrams

    * ----