doom

American  

[doom] / dum /

noun

1. fate or destiny, especially adverse fate; unavoidable ill fortune.

   In exile and poverty, he met his doom.

2. ruin; death.

   to fall to one's doom.

3. a judgment, decision, or sentence, especially an unfavorable one.

   The judge pronounced the defendant's doom.

   Synonyms:

   fate , ruination , downfall , destruction

4. the Last Judgment, at the end of the world.

5. Obsolete.  a statute, enactment, or legal judgment.

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verb (used with object)

1. to destine, especially to an adverse fate.

   Synonyms:

   predestine , foreordain

2. to pronounce judgment against; condemn.

3. to ordain or fix as a sentence or fate.

doom British  

/ duːm /

noun

1. death or a terrible fate

2. a judgment or decision

3. (sometimes capital) another term for the Last Judgment

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verb

1. (tr) to destine or condemn to death or a terrible fate

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

Wolseley, he judges, never accepted that the logistical challenges incurred by his decision to follow the Nile had doomed his campaign.

From The Wall Street Journal

However, some bulls, including Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer, believe talk of the company’s “doom” goes too far.

From Barron's

This is why, from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Ore., just about every new post office built since 1962 is concrete and smoked glass—a cold, gray box of doom.

From The Wall Street Journal

It wasn’t an injury or an uncontrollable act that doomed them this time, but rather a rash of discipline errors that came at the worst possible time.

From Los Angeles Times

And still, none of that means the market is necessarily doomed for the next few months.

From Barron's

Related Words

• calamity
• cataclysm
• catastrophe
• disaster
• downfall