fate

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines events.
2. n. The inevitable events predestined by this force.
3. n. A final result or consequence; an outcome.
4. n. Unfavorable destiny; doom.
5. n. Greek & Roman Mythology The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who control human destiny. Used with the.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Primarily, a prophetic declaration of what must be; a divine decree or a fixed sentence by which the order of things is prescribed; hence, that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny ordained and unalterable; that which must be, in spite of all opposing forces. See fatality.
2. n. That which comes from necessity or the force of circumstances; an inevitable course or event; hence, fortune, lot, or destiny in general: as, it was his fate to be betrayed by his party.
3. n. Final event; death; destruction.
4. n. A cause of death and destruction.
5. n. [capitalized] [L. Fatum, usually in pl. Fata; Gr. Μοῖρα, pl. Μοῖραι.] In Greek and Roman mythology, destiny: usually in the plural, the Destinies, goddesses supposed to preside over the birth, life, and death of human beings. They were three in number, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Also called, in Latin, Parcæ.
6. n. Synonyms 1 and 2. Doom, etc. See destiny.

Wiktionary

1. n. The cause, force, principle, or divine will that predetermines events.
2. n. The effect, consequence, outcome, or inevitable events predetermined by this cause.
3. n. Destiny (perhaps connotes death, ruin, misfortune, etc.).
4. n. The three goddesses (The Fates) of classic European mythology who are said to control the fate of human beings.
5. v. transitive To foreordain or predetermine, to make inevitable.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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.
2. n. Appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death.
3. n. 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.
4. n. (Myth.) The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, sometimes called the Destinies, or Parcæwho 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.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the ultimate agency regarded as predetermining the course of events (often personified as a woman)
2. n. your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)
3. v. decree or designate beforehand
4. n. an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future