Zoom
1 Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb (used without object)
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to move quickly or suddenly with a loud humming or buzzing sound.
cars zooming by on the freeway.
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to fly an airplane suddenly and sharply upward at great speed for a short distance, as in regaining altitude, clearing an obstacle, or signaling.
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Movies, Television. to bring a subject, scene, etc., into closeup or cause it to recede into a long shot using a zoom lens and while maintaining focus.
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Informal. to increase or rise suddenly and sharply.
Rents would zoom without rent control laws.
verb (used with object)
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to cause (an airplane) to zoom.
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to fly over (an obstacle) by zooming.
noun
verb phrase
verb
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to make or cause to make a continuous buzzing or humming sound
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to move or cause to move with such a sound
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(intr) to move very rapidly; rush
we zoomed through town
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to cause (an aircraft) to climb briefly at an unusually steep angle, or (of an aircraft) to climb in this way
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(intr) (of prices) to rise rapidly
noun
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the sound or act of zooming
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See zoom lens
Etymology
Origin of Zoom1
First recorded in 2010–15; shortening of Zoom Video Communications
Origin of zoom1
First recorded in 1885–90; imitative
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.
A new city can be a challenge—see, eat, experience it all—or an invitation to zoom in on one area and live like a local.
“She said YES!,” the venue captioned video of the proposal, which zoomed into the engagement ring.
From Los Angeles Times
Because if you look back at old movies with Fred Astaire or with Gene Kelly, specifically Fred Astaire, they would zoom out just to show you from head to toe, we are dancing.
From Los Angeles Times
“If you zoom out, the Fed naturally will start bill purchases next year as part of a reverses management operation,” said Roger Hallam, Vanguard fixed income group’s global head of rates.
From MarketWatch
Using a microscopy approach they created themselves, the scientists can zoom in on the outer surface of human cells in a Petri dish.
From Science Daily
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.
