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What would be the word for a person who ultimately "surrenders to his fate" whatever be the circumstances?

Example (the latest one I came across): In the Tempest, act 1 scene 1, in the end the mariners had no choice but to say: 'All lost to prayers, all lost' or Gonzalo saying that 'let the wills above be done'. They were in such an adverse situation that it was next to impossible to save the ship from the wreck and hence they had to cling their hopes to fortune.

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  • In a literal sense, it's impossible to surrender to fate—since it will happen regardless of your feelings about it. Fate cannot be prevented, no matter what your feelings on the matter happen to be. I don't think you actually mean to say fate. (I could be wrong.) Please provide more context, an explanation, and an example sentence. If you mean accept my situation, you still need to describe the sense you're looking for. (Pragmatic, realistic, defeatist, accepting, and so on.)
    – Jason Bassford
    Jan 29, 2019 at 19:36

3 Answers 3

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Fatalist (noun):

someone who believes that people cannot change the way events will happen and that events, especially bad ones, cannot be avoided:
"I'm not a fatalist ," she said. "I'm a realist." (Cambridge.org)

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Resigned sounds like what you mean.

feeling or showing resignation; submissive; yielding and uncomplaining

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I would use just 'a coward', but the better word, l think, is 'a wimp'.

According to Cambridge Dictionary (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wimp):

WIMP

informal

disapproving

: a person who is not strong, brave, or confident:

// I'm afraid I'm a wimp when it comes to climbing up ladders.

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    I think coward isn't the right word because sometimes the circumstances place you in such a situation where you have no option but to surrender to fate.
    – Archer
    Jan 29, 2019 at 17:58

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