Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
fatal, fateful (adjs.)
If an accident is fatal, someone dies in it; fatal can also be used figuratively to suggest any disastrous consequences, as in Their procedures had a fatal flaw, and it caused the bill to be defeated. If an incident is fateful, a life or lives are changed importantly by it, but for either good or ill: He made the fateful decision to join the Air Force could be followed either by and ultimately he rose through the ranks to become a successful general or and two years later he was killed [or severely injured] in a training accident.
