doom

American  

[doom] / dum /

noun

• dooms
  plural

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)

• dooms,
  present (3rd person singular)
• doomed,
  past participle,  past
• dooming
  present participle

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

Synonym Usage

See fate.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• predoom
  verb (used with object)
• doomy
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dooms
  plural

Participles

• dooming
  present
• doomed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• doom
  simple
• dooms
  simple
• have doomed
  perfect
• has doomed
  perfect
• am dooming
  progressive
• are dooming
  progressive
• is dooming
  progressive
• have been dooming
  perfect progressive
• has been dooming
  perfect progressive

Past

• doomed
  simple
• had doomed
  perfect
• was dooming
  progressive
• were dooming
  progressive
• had been dooming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will doom
  simple
• will have doomed
  perfect
• will be dooming
  progressive
• will have been dooming
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

doom dooms doomed dooming

“When people say, ‘my probability of doom is x or y or whatever, it hits in a different way,” said Altman.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

But let’s not be all gloom and doom.

From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2026

Wells’s apocalyptic vision of a world with air power, or the doom predicted from genetic engineering.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

There's no doom and gloom about the place despite them losing several key players and, after predicting they would lose their first two games, I feel differently about their prospects now.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

These were dark days, and it was good to have a challenge to take his mind off ghosts and doom: make Ruby completely lose track of herself, while not ending up a pile of char.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

"If you’re stuck in the past, that usually dooms a partnership."

From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2025

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

This dooms the great love of her life, with Pedro, who marries Tita’s sister just to be near her.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2023

Qxd5 Bxd5 dooms White’s e-pawn and his game.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 21, 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

I don’t think you are doomed, but nor do I have tips or tricks — except to say that if you don’t talk about it, this economic disparity will become bigger than both of you.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

Before Kao’s doomed reign as CEO, Navatek was a sleepy Hawaiian engineering company with a few dozen employees.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

It's likely to be the most significant royal book since Prince Harry's startling 2023 memoir, Spare, and Andrew Lownie's 2025 book Entitled, which doomed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's reputation.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

No, we aren’t doomed, but the models are advancing more quickly than our understanding of them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

Occasionally her teeth would press against the on switch, and the doomed thing would flail its arms, whispering one of its five recorded messages of goodwill.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

Roosevelt’s campaign shook the system, earning 88 electoral votes and dooming Taft’s reelection campaign in favor of the Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 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

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

At once menacing and clownish, Martin consistently tripped over his own incompetence, mendacity, and ignorance, ultimately dooming his chances of confirmation.

From Slate ● May 10, 2025

And I would have been dooming Ainsley to the same struggle as Nathan, if not worse.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

Related Words

• calamity
• cataclysm
• catastrophe
• disaster
• downfall