doom

[doom]

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.

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

/ duːm /

noun

1. death or a terrible fate

2. a judgment or decision

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

verb

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

Other Word Forms

• doomy adjective
• predoom verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of doom¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of doom¹

Old English dōm; related to Old Norse dōmr judgment, Gothic dōms sentence, Old High German tuom condition, Greek thomos crowd, Sanskrit dhāman custom; see _do ¹ , _deem , _deed , _-dom

Synonym Study

See fate.

Example Sentences

Well, they just did, at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night, complete with headaches, nausea and the shaky feeling of impending doom.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But Cohan said that since 70% of economic growth comes from consumer spending, “we could be in a doom loop where companies lay off more workers to meet quarterly earnings targets.”

Read more on MarketWatch

Yet this Democratic doom loop isn’t having its usual effect this time, and that’s in part because the party is unintentionally reminding voters of the law’s manifest failures and bad incentives.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Stories promised that inflation and the economy will doom him.

Read more on Salon

It's too early to say, but the reaction to recent bank earnings suggests markets view the issue as an item to watch, rather than an area of impending doom.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• calamity 
• cataclysm 
• catastrophe 
• disaster 
• downfall