: a nephew of Abraham who according to the account in Genesis escaped from the doomed city of Sodom with his wife who turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back
fate implies an inevitable and usually an adverse outcome.
the fate of the submarine is unknown
destiny implies something foreordained and often suggests a great or noble course or end.
the country's destiny to be a model of liberty to the world
lot and portion imply a distribution by fate or destiny, lot suggesting blind chance
it was her lot to die childless
, portion implying the apportioning of good and evil.
remorse was his daily portion
doom distinctly implies a grim or calamitous fate.
if the rebellion fails, his doom is certain
Example Sentences
Noun (1) He bought the vacant lot across the street. They own the house on the corner lot. We took a tour of the Universal lot. The organization has done much to improve the lot of underprivileged youth. Unhappy with her lot in life, she moved to the city to start over. Verb everyone is lotted opportunities in life, and it's their responsibility to take them See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Democrats in particular have a lot to lose, with their control of Congress at risk. Colin Lodewick, Fortune, 20 Sep. 2022 The Detroit Tigers' front office just got a whole lot younger.Detroit Free Press, 19 Sep. 2022 Anderson had a lot of fun last Saturday against ULM. Nick Alvarez | Nalvarez@al.com, al, 19 Sep. 2022 Before the four-day weekend was over, the festival still had a lot of music, food and, of course, bourbon to offer. Olivia Evans, The Courier-Journal, 18 Sep. 2022 Condie noted that as straight, white women, she and Leavitt and Hale don’t have a lot of the negative experiences that some other authors may have — particularly authors of color or who are LGBTQ+. Palak Jayswal, The Salt Lake Tribune, 18 Sep. 2022 When the Chicago Bears left the field at halftime of Sunday’s season opener against the San Francisco 49ers down 7-0, the offensive coaches and players didn’t have a lot of positive stats to discuss on the rainy day. Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2022 If your pet has a lot of fur, a pre-filter will catch hair and prevent it from clogging the HEPA filter. Samantha Jones, Better Homes & Gardens, 18 Sep. 2022 LeAnn Rimes has a lot to celebrate, and this new dressing room selfie deserves a spot on that list! Katie Bowlby, Country Living, 17 Sep. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English lot, lott "object used to decide a matter by chance, decision by the use of such objects, what one receives through such a decision, destiny, share," going back to Old English hlot, going back to Germanic *hluta- (whence also Old Frisian hlot, lot "lot," Old High German hluz, Old Norse hlutr), noun derivative from a verb *hleutan- "to cast lots" (whence Old English hlēotan "to cast lots, obtain, gain as one's lot," Old Saxon hliotan "to obtain," Old High German liozan "to cast lots," Old Norse hjlóta "to get by lot, obtain, undergo"), of uncertain origin
Note: An o-grade ablaut derivative is evident in Old English hlȳt, hlīet "lot, share," Old Saxon hlōt, Old High German hlōz, Old Norse hlautr (conflated with a different word meaning "blood sacrifice"), Gothic hlauts. The Germanic verb has been compared with Lithuanian kliū́ti "to get caught on, bump into, hinder," kliudýti "to bump into, meet, hinder," Old Church Slavic ključiti sę "to happen, come to pass," but the proposed semantic connection is tenuous.
Verb
Middle English lotten, derivative of lotlot entry 1
Noun (2)
Hebrew Lōṭ
First Known Use
Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1