Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Fateful \Fate"ful\, a. .
   Having the power of serving or accomplishing fate. ``The
   fateful steel.'' --J. Barlow.

   2. Significant of fate; ominous.

            The fateful cawings of the crow.      --Longfellow.
      -- {Fate"ful*ly}, adv.- {Fate"ful*ness}, n.

Source : WordNet®

fateful
     adj 1: having momentous consequences; of decisive importance; "that
            fateful meeting of the U.N. when...it declared war on
            North Korea"- Saturday Rev; "the fatal day of the
            election finally arrived" [syn: {fatal}]
     2: of ominous significance [syn: {foreboding(a)}, {portentous}]
     3: (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire
        consequences; bringing ruin; "the stock market crashed on
        Black Friday"; "a calamitous defeat"; "the battle was a
        disastrous end to a disastrous campaign"; "such doctrines,
        if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory"- Charles
        Darwin; "it is fatal to enter any war without the will to
        win it"- Douglas MacArthur; "a fateful error" [syn: {black},
         {calamitous}, {disastrous}, {fatal}]
     4: controlled or decreed by fate; predetermined; "a fatal
        series of events" [syn: {fatal}]