fatally

Fatally is an adverb in English that indicates something causes death or ends in death. It modifies verbs about death, such as "fatally injured" or "fatally wounded," and it can also modify adjectives to describe a death-related flaw, as in "a fatally flawed plan" or "fatally biased conclusions."

Etymology: From fatal, from Latin fatalis, "destined to cause death," ultimately from fatum, fate.

Usage and nuance: In medical, forensic, and journalistic contexts, fatally is used to convey that death occurred as a result of an event. It can also be used metaphorically to indicate a flaw that dooms a project or system. The term is more formal than synonyms like deadly or fatal in written English.

Related terms include fatality, fatalities, fatal, deadly, lethality, and fatal flaw.