Death or terrible fate (4)
I believe the answer is:
doom
I believe this clue is a double definition.
'death' is the first definition.
(thesaurus)
'terrible fate' is the second definition.
(I've seen this before)
(Other definitions for doom that I've seen before include "Inescapable fate" , "Downfall" , "Fate, destiny" , "Judgement" , "Sentence" .)