宿命|しゅくめいshukumei[0]heiban (flat)

1. nounfate; destiny; predestination
   洪水こうずいはかつてはこの地方ちほうには宿命しゅくめいであった。↗

   Previously, floods were fate for the region.

• Synonym運命うんめいNeutralNeutral: the general word for fate. Unlike 「宿命」, it can also cover a destiny that may still change; 「宿命」 stresses one fixed from birth and inescapable.
• Synonym定めさだめWrittenWritten and old-fashioned: fate or a decree. 「宿命」 stresses a destiny fixed beyond changing.
• Synonym命運めいうんWrittenWritten: the fate of something's survival or decline, as in 「会社の命運」. 「宿命」 stresses being predetermined.
• Synonym天命てんめいWrittenWritten: Heaven's will, or one's allotted lifespan. 「宿命」 stresses a fate one is born with.
• Synonym因縁いんねんNeutralNeutral: a fated tie or karma, but also a pretext for picking a quarrel. 「宿命」 stresses a predetermined fate.
• Synonym宿運しゅくうんWrittenWritten and rare; it means the same as 「宿命」, but 「宿命」 is the word normally used.
• Related運うんNeutralNeutral and common in both speech and writing: luck, good or bad. 「宿命」 stresses a fate that is fixed and cannot be changed.
• Related運勢うんせいNeutralNeutral: a person's fortune, often in fortune-telling. 「宿命」 stresses being fated.
• Related回り合わせまわりあわせNeutralNeutral: serendipity, the chance way things turn out. 「宿命」 stresses a fate that is fixed and inescapable.
• Related天運てんうんWrittenWritten: luck or destiny bestowed by Heaven. 「宿命」 stresses an inescapable, predetermined fate.
• Related宿世しゅくせWrittenA Buddhist term for one's past existence and the karma carried from it. 「宿命」 stresses being fated.
• Related巡り合わせめぐりあわせNeutralNeutral: the chance way one happens to come across things. 「宿命」 stresses a fate that is inevitably predetermined.
• Related運気うんきNeutralNeutral: how one's luck runs, as in 「今週の運気」. 「宿命」 stresses a destiny fixed from birth.
• Related宿縁しゅくえんWrittenA Buddhist term for a bond or karma from a previous life. 「宿命」 stresses fate itself.
• Related天意てんいWrittenWritten: the will of Heaven or divine providence. 「宿命」 stresses an individual's predetermined fate.
• Antonym偶然ぐうぜんNeutralNeutral: coincidence or chance — the very opposite of 「宿命」, which is fixed and inescapable.

Use 「宿命」 for a fate fixed from birth that cannot be escaped, as in 「宿命のライバル」. For fate in general say 「運命」; for the fortunes or survival of something, 「命運」; for luck, 「運」; for the chance way things turn out, 「巡り合わせ」; for coincidence, 「偶然」.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 生うまれる前まえから定さだまっていて変かえることのできない運命うんめい。