Fate vs. Fortune: Difference and Comparison
Edited by Muazma Batool — By Muneeza Rehman — Published on March 15, 2024
Fate refers to a predetermined course of events beyond human control, while fortune is chance or luck in events affecting one's life.
Difference Between Fate and Fortune
Fate often implies that events are preordained and inevitable. It is a force or principle believed to predetermine events. On the other hand, fortune relates to the unpredictable and can refer to good or bad luck that one encounters. In essence, while fate suggests an unavoidable future, fortune leans towards chance.
Muazma Batool
Mar 15, 2024
In literature and folklore, the concept of fate often involves deities or forces that shape the destinies of individuals. Contrastingly, fortune frequently involves random occurrences or opportunities, which might not be rooted in any cosmic design. Tales of a "fated" love suggest inevitability, while a "fortunate" encounter might be an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
Muneeza Rehman
Mar 15, 2024
From a philosophical perspective, fate poses questions about free will and determinism. If one's path is fated, is there room for choice? Fortune, conversely, raises issues about randomness and the inherent unpredictability of life. Does fortune favor the bold, or is it entirely arbitrary?
Muazma Batool
Mar 15, 2024
In daily parlance, the word fate might be used to express an acceptance of circumstances as they are, an acknowledgment that certain events were meant to be. Fortune, in everyday language, often refers to luck, be it good or bad, and can also pertain to wealth or prosperity. To be "fated" implies a set trajectory, while to be "fortunate" suggests a positive, albeit random, turn of events.
Muneeza Rehman
Mar 15, 2024
Lastly, though both terms hint at events beyond one's control, their nuances differ. Fate leans more towards destiny and a pre-set course, whereas fortune revolves around luck and chance occurrences.
Muazma Batool
Mar 15, 2024
Fate vs. Fortune Comparison Chart
Associated Feelings
Often resignation or acceptance
Can be seen as either positive (good luck) or negative
Muazma Batool
Mar 15, 2024
Context of Use
Inevitability and pre-ordained events
Random occurrences or opportunities
Kaitlyn
Mar 15, 2024
Literary Usage
Usually associated with deities or cosmic forces
Often linked to random encounters or serendipity
Olivia
Mar 15, 2024
Fate vs. Fortune Definitions
◉Fate
The inevitable events predetermined by a supernatural power.
Some say our fates are written in the stars.
Muneeza Rehman
Sep 14, 2023
◉Fortune
A large amount of wealth or prosperity.
He made a fortune in the stock market.
Muneeza Rehman
Sep 14, 2023
◉Fate
A power that determines events beyond human control.
Many believe that fate brought them together at the right moment.
Muazma Batool
Sep 14, 2023
◉Fortune
A prediction about a person's future, often given by a fortune teller.
Her fortune foretold of a mysterious stranger entering her life.
William
Sep 14, 2023
◉Fate
The final outcome or result.
His fate was sealed when the jury read the verdict.
Muazma Batool
Sep 14, 2023
◉Fortune
The random twists and turns in life.
The fortunes of war are unpredictable.
Jonathan
Sep 14, 2023
◉Fate
The supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines events
Fate did not favor his career.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; luck
He decided to travel, and his fortune turned for the worse.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
The inevitable events predestined by this force
It was her fate to marry a lout.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
A final result or consequence; an outcome
What was the fate of your project?.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
Success, especially when at least partially resulting from luck
No matter what they tried, it ended in fortune.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
An unfavorable outcome in life; doom or death
suffered a fate worse than death.
the island where the explorer met his fate.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
A person's condition or standing in life determined by material possessions or financial wealth
She pursued her fortune in Rome.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
Fates Greek & Roman Mythology The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who control human destiny. Used with the.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
The presumed cause, force, principle, or divine will that predetermines events.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
The effect, consequence, outcome, or inevitable events predetermined by this cause.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
often Fortune A hypothetical, often personified force or power that favorably or unfavorably governs the events of one's life
We believe that Fortune is on our side.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
Destiny; often with a connotation of death, ruin, misfortune, etc.
Accept your fate.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
(mythology) Fate (one of the goddesses said to control the destiny of human beings).
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
(biochemistry) The products of a chemical reaction in their final form in the biosphere.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
(embryology) The mature endpoint of a region, group of cells or individual cell in an embryo, including all changes leading to that mature endpoint
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
(transitive) To foreordain or predetermine, to make inevitable.
The oracle's prediction fated Oedipus to kill his father; not all his striving could change what would occur.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
Destiny, especially favorable.
She read my fortune. Apparently I will have a good love life this week, but I will have a bad week for money.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
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.
Necessity and chanceApproach not me; and what I will is fate.
Beyond and above the Olympian gods lay the silent, brooding, everlasting fate of which victim and tyrant were alike the instruments.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
A prediction or set of predictions about a person's future provided by a fortune teller.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
Appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death.
The great, th'important day, big with the fateOf Cato and of Rome.
Our wills and fates do so contrary runThat our devices still are overthrown.
The whizzing arrow sings,And bears thy fate, Antinous, on its wings.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
A small slip of paper with wise or vaguely prophetic words printed on it, baked into a fortune cookie.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
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; as, fate was, or the fates were, against him.
A brave man struggling in the storms of fate.
Sometimes an hour of Fate's serenest weather strikes through our changeful sky its coming beams.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
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.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
One's wealth; the amount of money one has, especially if it is vast.
He's amassed a small fortune working in the Middle East.
My vast fortune was a result of inheritance and stock market nous.
Her fortune is estimated at 3 million dollars.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
the ultimate agency that predetermines the course of events (often personified as a woman);
we are helpless in the face of Destiny
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
A large amount of money.
That car must be worth a fortune! How could you afford it?
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you);
whatever my fortune may be
deserved a better fate
has a happy lot
the luck of the Irish
a victim of circumstances
success that was her portion
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
decree or designate beforehand;
She was destined to become a great pianist
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fate
A predestined outcome or course of events.
It was her fate to be a great leader.
Elijah
Sep 14, 2023
◉Fortune
The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident; luck; hap; also, the personified or deified power regarded as determining human success, apportioning happiness and unhappiness, and distributing arbitrarily or fortuitously the lots of life.
'T is more by fortune, lady, than by merit.
O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
That which befalls or is to befall one; lot in life, or event in any particular undertaking; fate; destiny; as, to tell one's fortune.
You, who men's fortunes in their faces read.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
That which comes as the result of an undertaking or of a course of action; good or ill success; especially, favorable issue; happy event; success; prosperity as reached partly by chance and partly by effort.
Our equal crimes shall equal fortune give.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
His father dying, he was driven to seek his fortune.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
Wealth; large possessions; large estate; riches; as, a gentleman of fortune.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
To fall out; to happen.
It fortuned the same night that a Christian, serving a Turk in the camp, secretely gave the watchmen warning.
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another;
bad luck caused his downfall
we ran into each other by pure chance
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome;
it was my good luck to be there
they say luck is a lady
it was as if fortune guided his hand
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you);
whatever my fortune may be
deserved a better fate
has a happy lot
the luck of the Irish
a victim of circumstances
success that was her portion
Muneeza Rehman
May 03, 2023
◉Fortune
Luck, either good or bad, that someone experiences.
By sheer fortune, she found the lost ring in the sand.
Muazma Batool
Sep 14, 2023
Fate vs. Fortune Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary difference between fate and fortune?
Fate refers to predetermined events, while fortune pertains to chance or luck.
Muneeza Rehman
Mar 15, 2024
Can someone control their fate?
Fate, by definition, is a set course of events beyond human control.
Muazma Batool
Mar 15, 2024
Is fortune always positive?
No, fortune can refer to either good luck or bad luck.
Muneeza Rehman
Mar 15, 2024
How does fortune relate to wealth?
While fortune can mean luck, it can also refer to a large amount of wealth or prosperity.
Nolan
Mar 15, 2024
Can fate and fortune be used interchangeably?
While they both relate to future events, fate implies inevitability, and fortune suggests chance.
Levi
Mar 15, 2024
How is fate commonly portrayed in literature?
Fate is often shown as an unchangeable destiny, sometimes set by deities or cosmic forces.
Levi
Mar 15, 2024
Does everyone have a fate?
Beliefs about fate vary; some think everyone has a predestined path, while others believe in free will.
Muneeza Rehman
Mar 15, 2024
Is it correct to say "fate smiled upon him"?
While more commonly associated with fortune, "fate smiled upon him" is understandable and suggests favorable destiny.
Muneeza Rehman
Mar 15, 2024
Can someone change their fortune?
While some aspects of fortune are random, decisions and actions can influence outcomes.
Henry
Mar 15, 2024
What does it mean when someone says "fortune favors the bold"?
It means that taking risks can lead to positive outcomes or opportunities.
Muazma Batool
Mar 15, 2024
Content Creators
Written by
Muneeza RehmanAt Comparisons.wiki, Muneeza skillfully navigates the vast sea of information, ensuring clarity and accuracy as the lead content editor. With a keen eye for detail, she curates every comparison to enlighten and engage readers.
Edited by
Muazma BatoolAs a content editor, Muazma Batool is not just a grammar guru but a creative mastermind who breathes life into every word. With an eagle eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, she transforms bland text into engaging content that captivates audiences and drives results.
