How to Use fatal in a Sentence

fatal

adjective
  • She made a fatal mistake.
  • On the final day of the trip, Bianca Rudolph suffered a fatal blast to the chest.
    Mike Levine, ABC News, 20 Dec. 2023
  • Both warned that the law’s vague wording might lead to more fatal shootings.
    Constant Méheut, New York Times, 30 June 2023
  • The driver of the Kia was taken for a blood draw, which is standard in fatal crashes.
    Katie Wiseman, The Indianapolis Star, 2 Jan. 2024
  • While tiger shark attacks are not common in the Red Sea, the area did see two such fatal attacks last year, per The Guardian.
    Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 9 June 2023
  • One high-profile case was the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadea al-Fayoume in Illinios on Oct. 14.
    David Hernandez, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Nov. 2023
  • In May, there was a fatal shooting by troopers after a chase.
    J. David Goodman, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Aug. 2023
  • Gascón did not provide any details on the motive in the fatal attack.
    Alene Tchekmedyian, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2024
  • The suspension comes after a rash of fatal train strikes in the region, with four people hit and killed on the coastal train tracks in the span of five days this month.
    Emily Alvarenga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Jan. 2024
  • The announcement was spurred by the fatal shootings of a 13-year-old girl in July, a five-year-old girl in August and an 11-year-old boy this month.
    Emma Colton, Fox News, 10 Sep. 2023
  • Calles’ death is the second fatal police shooting in Portland in 2023.
    Austindedios, oregonlive, 6 Aug. 2023
  • Police have not released a motive for the fatal shooting.
    Karen Kucher, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 May 2023
  • In one corner, his brother’s clothes are laid out into a shrine, still caked in blood from his fatal shooting on Oct. 13.
    Alexander Smith, NBC News, 3 Nov. 2023
  • Alec Baldwin asks judge to dismiss charges in fatal ‘Rust’ shooting.
    Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2024
  • Jail records state that the fatal shooting is a capital crime because the shots were fired from a vehicle.
    Carol Robinson | Crobinson@al.com, al, 11 July 2023
  • The nation's overdose deaths spiked last decade due to fatal episodes with opioids, then heroin.
    Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY, 8 May 2024
  • An Ohio man has been arrested in connection to the fatal shooting of a father of twins with a third baby on the way.
    Emily Palmer, People.com, 16 Oct. 2024
  • Nobody has been charged in the fatal shootings of 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi.
    Alex Mann, Baltimore Sun, 15 July 2024
  • As with last month’s fatal train accident, those killings sparked widespread protests across the country.
    Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 13 Mar. 2023
  • The suspect was arrested six days after the fatal shooting took place.
    Lucas Aulbach, The Courier-Journal, 12 July 2023
  • And sadly, ingesting plants that are toxic to dogs can be fatal.
    Elizabeth Waddington, Treehugger, 12 Apr. 2023
  • The invasion turned out to be a fatal miscalculation, but the outcome was long in doubt.
    Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
  • Five of the incidents where officers used both launchers and firearms were fatal.
    Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024
  • The Milwaukee man convicted in a fatal shooting last year at a Water Street tavern will spend the next 40 years in prison.
    Chris Ramirez, Journal Sentinel, 30 Aug. 2023
  • The worker, who was 48, fell 20 feet down the elevator shaft and suffered fatal head trauma.
    Adam Sabes, Fox News, 24 Nov. 2023
  • The suits allege that Charged Lemonade contributed to the fatal cardiac arrests of a 21-year-old college student and a 46-year-old man.
    Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 29 Dec. 2023
  • By now many of you have heard the devastating news about Sean’s fatal accident.
    Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 15 May 2024
  • These injuries can be fatal and usually occur during falls of either the rider or both the horse and the rider.
    Olivia Hampton, NPR, 5 June 2024
  • The lawyers last month released a one-minute video clip of the fatal shooting captured on a security camera.
    Rosalio Ahumada, Sacramento Bee, 8 May 2024
  • This article contains a mention of fatal violence against a Black trans woman.
    James Factora, Them, 16 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fatal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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