Fatal
Fatal adjective - Likely to cause or capable of causing death.
Usage example: that snake's venom is fatal unless the victim is given the antidote almost immediately
Lethal is a synonym for fatal in deadly topic. In some cases you can use "Lethal" instead an adjective "Fatal", when it comes to topics like live, property, noxious, disastrous. popular alternative
Lethal
Lethal adjective - Likely to cause or capable of causing death.
Usage example: we were lucky that the snake's venom wasn't lethal, and our friend turned out to be all right
Fatal is a synonym for lethal in deadly topic. You can use "Fatal" instead an adjective "Lethal", if it concerns topics such as live, property, noxious, poisonous. popular alternative
Nearby Word: lethality
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
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In a 2005 segment on avian flu, The Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry described the disease thusly: "A fatal killer that, when lethal, can be deadly."
Source: Shaped Like Itself -
The show even managed to make "make it rain" directly lethal in the second season, when someone with Super Speed got a rather fatal physics lesson.
Source: Lethal Harmless Powers -
Downplayed at the end of Fearless (2006), where Jet Li's character could have created a near simultaneous death of he and his opponent by delivering a fatal blow, but instead only made the motions without delivering lethal force behind the strike.
Source: Mutual Kill
Cite this Source
Lethal and Fatal. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/fatal/lethal
Fatal & Lethal. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/fatal/lethal>.
Lethal or Fatal. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/fatal/lethal.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "fatal" and "lethal" have occurred on timeline