doom
Americannoun
-
fate or destiny, especially adverse fate; unavoidable ill fortune.
In exile and poverty, he met his doom.
-
to fall to one's doom.
-
a judgment, decision, or sentence, especially an unfavorable one.
The judge pronounced the defendant's doom.
- Synonyms:
- fate, ruination, downfall, destruction
-
the Last Judgment, at the end of the world.
-
Obsolete. a statute, enactment, or legal judgment.
verb (used with object)
-
to destine, especially to an adverse fate.
- Synonyms:
- predestine, foreordain
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to pronounce judgment against; condemn.
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to ordain or fix as a sentence or fate.
noun
-
death or a terrible fate
-
a judgment or decision
-
(sometimes capital) another term for the Last Judgment
verb
Related Words
See fate.
Other Word Forms
- doomy adjective
- predoom verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of doom
First recorded before 900; Middle English dome, dōm, Old English dōm “judgment, law”; cognate with Old Norse dōmr, “judgment, sentence, court,” Gothic dōms “sentence, fame,” all from Germanic dômaz “what has been set,” from dôn “to set, place, do 1 ( def. ) ”; compare Greek thémis “law” (i.e., “what has been set, laid down”); deem
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“If you want to know whether dollar doom is real, watch the flows. Are Europeans actually liquidating their SPX? Are Japanese pension funds selling Treasurys?”
From MarketWatch
Why it might be doomed to fall even further.
From MarketWatch
As their ferry began listing heavily in the middle of the night off the southern Philippines, passengers instinctively raced to one side in a desperate bid to rebalance the doomed vessel.
From Barron's
How does the downward spiral of the “doom loop,” as you imagine it, end?
From Barron's
Everyone’s heard of someone having a baby in a doomed bid to save a marriage.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
