fatality rate
noun
plural fatality rates
: the number of deaths from a specific cause
Last year, South Carolina had the nation's third-highest highway fatality rate, with 1,064 people killed in wrecks on the state's roads.—
Joseph S. Stroud
Joseph S. StroudMcGuire is a practitioner of what he calls the king of all extreme sports. BASE—an acronym for building, antenna, span (bridge) and earth (cliffs)—jumping has one of the sporting world's highest fatality rates: in its 18-year history, 46 participants have been killed.—Karl Taro Greenfield
Karl Taro Greenfield
specifically
: case fatality rate
Dysentery, in which fatality rates in untreated cases range as high as 50 percent, is especially dangerous to children. —James C. Riley
James C. Riley Examples of fatality rate in a Sentence
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Immigrants disproportionately work in more dangerous industries such as forestry and construction and are more likely to die on the job than other workers, with fatality rates that are especially high among Mexican immigrants, researchers from Vanderbilt Law School found.
—Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 8 Feb. 2025
Smallpox, a disease with a 30% fatality rate, and which often left survivors with severe scarring, qualified as such an emergency.
—Helen L. Murphey / Made By History, TIME, 29 Jan. 2025
This has resulted in 24 deaths and eight people surviving, a 75% fatality rate.
—Sheldon H. Jacobson, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2025
Falls, equipment failures, and hazardous materials contribute to the high fatality rate.
—Bryan Robinson, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024
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Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 8 Feb. 2025
Smallpox, a disease with a 30% fatality rate, and which often left survivors with severe scarring, qualified as such an emergency.
—Helen L. Murphey / Made By History, TIME, 29 Jan. 2025
This has resulted in 24 deaths and eight people surviving, a 75% fatality rate.
—Sheldon H. Jacobson, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2025
Falls, equipment failures, and hazardous materials contribute to the high fatality rate.
—Bryan Robinson, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for fatality rate
Cite this Entry
“Fatality rate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fatality%20rate. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
fatality rate
noun
: the number of deaths from a specific cause
… the inclusion of air bags and other design improvements in vehicles, the use of seat belts and even the increasing maturity of the driving population have combined to lower the fatality rate on U. S. highways by 29 percent since 1987.—Stefan Thomke et al., Scientific American
Stefan Thomke et al., Scientific American
specifically
: case fatality rate
Dysentery, in which fatality rates in untreated cases range as high as 50 percent, is especially dangerous to children. —James C. Riley, The American Historical Review
James C. Riley, The American Historical Review Love words? Need even more definitions?
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