doomsday
[doomz-dey]
- the day of the Last Judgment, at the end of the world.
- any day of judgment or sentence.
- nuclear destruction of the world.
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- given to or marked by forebodings or predictions of impending calamity; especially concerned with or predicting future universal destruction: the doomsday issue of all-out nuclear war.
- capable of causing widespread or total destruction: doomsday weapons.
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Origin of doomsday
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for doomsday
Contemporary Examples
Men and women “go on bucket list,” some commit suicide, and others go full on doomsday hoarder.
On federal spending he warns that the nation is headed for “a doomsday scenario.”
They were devout Christians who worried that this might bring on doomsday.
Boustany echoed an idea that many came to believe, that talk of doomsday was overblown.
At least as far as Hollywood is concerned, 2013 is the year of doomsday.
Historical Examples
Don't forget that I'm to be your second—on doomsday morning, cousin.
Pages 20 and 34: Changed "doomsday" and "dooms-day" to "Dooms-day" for consistency.
Her record of badnesses occupies pages in the Doomsday Book.
Dear EnemyJean Webster
You will never know all that it implies, never, never, though I talk till Doomsday.
The Daughters of DanausMona Caird
We are virtually where we were originally; and we can talk, talk, talk from now until the clap of doomsday.
The Blind SpotAustin Hall
doomsday
domesday
- (sometimes capital) the day on which the Last Judgment will occur
- any day of reckoning
- (modifier) characterized by predictions of disasterdoomsday scenario
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Word Origin
Old English dōmes dæg Judgment Day; related to Old Norse domsdagr
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for doomsday
Doomsday
n.
Old English domes dæg, from domes, genitive of dom (see doom (n.)) + dæg "day" (see day (n.)).
In medieval England it was expected when the world's age reached 6,000 years from creation, which was thought to have been in 5200 B.C. Bede, c.720, complained of being pestered by rustici asking him how many years till the sixth millennium ended. There is no evidence for a general panic in the year 1000 C.E. Doomsday machine "bomb powerful enough to wipe out human life on earth" is from 1960.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper