fate

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines events.
• noun The inevitable events predestined by this force.
• noun A final result or consequence; an outcome.
• noun An unfavorable outcome in life; doom or death.
• noun Greek & Roman Mythology The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who control human destiny. Used with the.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Primarily, a prophetic declaration of what must be; a divine decree or a fixed sentence by which the order of things is prescribed; hence, that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny ordained and unalterable; that which must be, in spite of all opposing forces. See fatality.
• noun That which comes from necessity or the force of circumstances; an inevitable course or event; hence, fortune, lot, or destiny in general: as, it was his fate to be betrayed by his party.
• noun Final event; death; destruction.
• noun A cause of death and destruction.
• noun [capitalized] [L. Fatum, usually in pl. Fata; Gr. Μοῖρα, pl. Μοῖραι.] In Greek and Roman mythology, destiny: usually in the plural, the Destinies, goddesses supposed to preside over the birth, life, and death of human beings. They were three in number, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Also called, in Latin, Parcæ.
• noun Synonyms 1 and 2. Doom, etc. See destiny.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun 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.
• noun Appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death.
• noun 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.
• noun (Myth.) 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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The cause, force, principle, or divine will that predetermines events.
• noun The effect, consequence, outcome, or inevitable events predetermined by this cause.
• noun Destiny (perhaps connotes death, ruin, misfortune, etc.).
• noun The three goddesses (The Fates) of classic European mythology who are said to control the fate of human beings.
• verb transitive To foreordain or predetermine, to make inevitable.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the ultimate agency regarded as predetermining the course of events (often personified as a woman)
• noun your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)
• verb decree or designate beforehand
• noun an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future