destiny

Noun
Synonyms: fatefortunelucklotcircumstancesportion

WordNet 3.0

Noun (3)

  1. an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the futureSynonyms: fate
  2. the ultimate agency regarded as predetermining the course of events (often personified as a woman)“we are helpless in the face of destiny”Synonyms: fate
  3. your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)“whatever my fortune may be”“deserved a better fate”“has a happy lot”“the luck of the Irish”“a victim of circumstances”“success that was her portion”Synonyms: fortunefatelucklotcircumstancesportion
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Destiny \Des"ti*ny\, n.; pl. Destinies. [OE. destinee, destene, F. destin['e]e, from destiner. See Destine.]

1.That to which any person or thing is destined; predetermined state; condition foreordained by the Divine or by human will; fate; lot; doom. [1913 Webster]

Thither he Will come to know his destiny.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
No man of woman born, Coward or brave, can shun his destiny.— Bryant.[1913 Webster]

2.The fixed order of things; invincible necessity; fate; a resistless power or agency conceived of as determining the future, whether in general or of an individual. [1913 Webster]

But who can turn the stream of destiny?— Spenser.[1913 Webster]
Fame comes only when deserved, and then is as inevitable as destiny, for it is destiny.— Longfellow.[1913 Webster]

The Destinies (Anc. Myth.), the three Parc[ae], or Fates; the supposed powers which preside over human life, and determine its circumstances and duration. [1913 Webster]

Marked by the Destinies to be avoided.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

The Devil's Dictionary

DESTINY, n. A tyrant's authority for crime and fool's excuse for failure.
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