Meaning & use
destiny
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
The future that seems fixed for a person or thing, as though it was always going to happen.
Grammar: Countable for one person's fate (her destiny); uncountable for the idea in general.
Patterns
- fulfill your destiny
- destiny of something
He believed it was his destiny to become a doctor.
Meeting her felt like destiny.
They wanted to control their own destiny.
noununcountableliterary
The power that is believed to decide events in advance.
Grammar: Used like fate, usually without an article: destiny decided it.
Patterns
- by destiny
Some people think destiny brought the two friends together.
Word forms
| plural | destinies |
|---|
Common combinations
- fulfill your destiny
- She set out to fulfill her destiny as an artist.
- control your own destiny
- The team now controls its own destiny.
- shape destiny
- Small choices shape destiny.
- manifest destiny
- The phrase manifest destiny was used in the 1800s United States.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fate
- Fate is often darker and suggests something outside your control, while destiny feels more purposeful.
- fortune
- Fortune stresses luck, good or bad.
- future
- Future is only what comes next, without the sense of being decided.
- lot
- Lot means the situation life gives you, often a hard one.
Opposites
Word family
- destined adjective
- meant or certain to happen
- destine verb
- set apart for a purpose, mostly in the passive
- destination noun
- the place someone is heading
Commonly confused: destiny or destination? destiny or fate?
destiny vs destination
A destination is the place you travel to, not a future decided by fate.
destiny vs fate
Close in meaning, but fate often suggests a bad end.
Practice
Choose the sentence in which 'destiny' fits best.
Choose one answer.
Destiny means a future felt to be meant. The other sentences need 'destination' or another word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “destiny”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.