black and fatal share a recorded sense, so the question is not what they mean but which one fits. black means “being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light”. fatal means “bringing death”. black is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈblæk/
1.adj.being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
“black leather jackets”
2.adj.of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African origin
“a great people--a black people--...injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization”
3.adj.marked by anger or resentment or hostility
“black looks”
/ˈfeɪtəl/
1.adj.bringing death
2.adj.having momentous consequences; of decisive importance
“that fateful meeting of the U.N. when...it declared war on North Korea”
3.adj.(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin
“the stock market crashed on Black Friday”
| black | fatal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈblæk/ | /ˈfeɪtəl/ |
| Said | blak | FAY-tuhl |
| Syllables | 1 | 2 |
| Letters | 5 | 5 |
| Parts of speech | adjective, noun, verb | adjective |
| Senses | 22 | 4 |
| How common | Core | Common |
| Synonyms | none recorded | none recorded |
Full entry for black · Full entry for fatal · More comparisons