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.-appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death.-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; as, fate was, or the fates were, against him.-the three goddesses, clotho, lachesis, and atropos, sometimes called the destinies, or parcaewho 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.