fatalist

[ feyt-l-ist ]

noun

1. a person who believes that all events are inevitable, so one’s choices and actions make no difference:

   Protest or not, the odds seem stacked against the likelihood of change, so should we be fatalists and go off to the beach instead?

2. Philosophy. a person who advances the idea that all events are naturally predetermined or subject to fate:

   Despite his teaching that class conflict is inevitable, observers contend that Marx was not a fatalist about historical change.

adjective

1. Rare. fatalistic.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fatalist¹

First recorded in 1640–50; fatal(ism) ( def ) + -ist ( def )

Example Sentences

But I'm not a fatalist; if I were, I wouldn’t have written this book or spent my life trying to protect our country.

From Salon

“This area has the lifestyle we like and the values we like,” he said, taking a fatalist view of natural hazards.

From Seattle Times

But Dubus is no fatalist; we are on a difficult journey of redemption.

From Los Angeles Times

As much as Rockwell astutely limns how lives are shaped by forces out of their control, she’s no fatalist: She gives Inez and Terry their happy ending, as hard-won and ambiguous as it is.

From Washington Post

“I got used to it. What can we do? I am a fatalist.”

From New York Times