fatalism
2 synonyms and 1 antonym for fatalism, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The belief that everything that happens is fixed in advance by fate and cannot be changed by human action.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Antonyms
free will
How to use fatalism
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
a sense of fatalism
fatalism about the future
resigned fatalism
shrug with fatalism
It is a formal, somewhat literary or philosophical word, not common in casual conversation.
Etymology
Fatalism was formed in English by adding the suffix -ism, which names a doctrine or belief system, to the word fatal.
Full origin of fatalism →Frequently asked questions
What does fatalism mean?
It is the belief that events are already determined by fate and that people cannot change them, however they act.
Is fatalism the same as determinism?
The two are closely related and often used as near synonyms, both holding that outcomes are fixed rather than freely chosen.
What is the opposite of fatalism?
Free will is generally treated as its opposite, since it holds that people can genuinely choose and change outcomes.
