doom
Americannoun
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dooms
plural
-
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)
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dooms,
present (3rd person singular)
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doomed,
past participle, past
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dooming
present participle
-
to destine, especially to an adverse fate.
- Synonyms:
- predestine, foreordain
-
to pronounce judgment against; condemn.
-
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
Synonym Usage
See fate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
doomsimple
-
doomssimple
-
have doomedperfect
-
has doomedperfect
-
am doomingprogressive
-
are doomingprogressive
-
is doomingprogressive
-
have been doomingperfect progressive
-
has been doomingperfect progressive
Past
-
doomedsimple
-
had doomedperfect
-
was doomingprogressive
-
were doomingprogressive
-
had been doomingperfect progressive
Future
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”); see deem
Explanation
Doom is death, destruction, the end of the world, the big goodbye. It can also be a verb — if a man twirling a mustache ties you to the railroad tracks, he dooms you to certain death! Doctor Doom is a comic book villain you do not want to mess with. He’s the doctor of death! If you feel that the world is terrible, you’re all doom and gloom. If someone dies, she meets her doom. People usually talk about doom as a type of fate — doom isn't an accident. When doom is a verb, watch out — being slack dooms careers and lies doom relationships. Stay away from all forms of doom.
Vocabulary lists containing doom
"Sonnet 55" by William Shakespeare
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Similes from Top AP English Exam Novels
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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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.
See Examples For:
“We need to pull housing out of this doom loop,” said Victoria Gomez, the coalition’s political organizer for Southern California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026
"A prophet of doom does not wish for misfortune to occur, quite the contrary. His place is not in a courtroom," Thibault de Montbrial and Louis Cailliez said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 10, 2026
But soon, the mood turned to doom and disbelief.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
In Elephant Butte, population just over 1,400, officials and residents fear the dwindling reservoir spells doom for their way of life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Annabeth was grateful for that, but she also worried that she was leading him to his doom.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
"If you’re stuck in the past, that usually dooms a partnership."
From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2025
Astrobotic Technology, a Pittsburgh company, launches its lander in January, but a fuel leak prevents a landing and dooms the craft.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
It fares no better on the merits, fox-trotting around an insurmountable Supreme Court precedent strictly limiting recusal that dooms the whole endeavor.
From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2023
Dustin May did everything right in his first start of 2023, but a lack of timely hitting dooms the Dodgers in a 2-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2023
Yet, with her prescience, she was aware of dooms and sorrows outside her lover's purview.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
It’s not obvious whether this is a breezy franchise picture or more of a ’70s-style story about a doomed fight with an unbeatable system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026
The reality is United were already doomed under then-boss Tommy Docherty.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
Is it an instance of possibly doomed men gamely putting on a show for others who may be about to die?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
She also had a close call with the sunk cost fallacy: the failure to disengage from a probably doomed pursuit because of the time already invested in it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
Dinner was doomed before the roast beef even made it out of the oven.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Vibrations from earth-moving equipment could have triggered further collapses, possibly dooming Gil — and his would-be rescuers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026
While the documentary did not land Chow in prison, the filmmaker said he paid a steep price as investors and collaborators deserted him, almost dooming "Deadline".
From Barron's ● Dec. 22, 2025
Knowing that handing off the mantle to any of these soft-bellied siblings meant dooming his life’s work, Roy let slip one of the most devastating parental assessments ever captured on television.
From Salon ● Dec. 9, 2025
Frank added it to the bill, dooming it to failure; it would be another 13 years before both classes would win protection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
And I would have been dooming Ainsley to the same struggle as Nathan, if not worse.
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
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