doom

[doom]

noun

fate or destiny, especially adverse fate; unavoidable ill fortune: In exile and poverty, he met his doom.

ruin; death: to fall to one's doom.

a judgment, decision, or sentence, especially an unfavorable one: The judge pronounced the defendant's doom.

the Last Judgment, at the end of the world.

Obsolete. a statute, enactment, or legal judgment.

verb (used with object)

to destine, especially to an adverse fate.

to pronounce judgment against; condemn.

to ordain or fix as a sentence or fate.

Origin of doom

before 900; Middle English dome, dōm, Old English dōm judgment, law; cognate with Old Norse dōmr, Gothic dōms; compare Sanskrit dhā́man, Greek thémis law; see do¹, deem

Related formsdoom·y, adjectivepre·doom, verb (used with object)self-doomed, adjective

Synonyms for doom

1. See fate. 3. condemnation. 6. predestine.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for doomy

doomy

adjective informal

despondent or pessimistic

depressing, frightening, or chilling

Derived Formsdoomily, adverb

doom

noun

death or a terrible fate

a judgment or decision

(sometimes capital) another term for the Last Judgment

verb

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

Word Origin for doom

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

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 doomy

doom

Old English dom "law, judgment, condemnation," from Proto-Germanic *domaz (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian dom, Old Norse domr, Old High German tuom, Gothic doms "judgment, decree"), from PIE root *dhe- (cf. Sanskrit dhaman- "law," Greek themis "law," Lithuanian dome "attention"), literally "to set, put" (see factitious). A book of laws in Old English was a dombec. Modern sense of "fate, ruin, destruction" is c.1600, from the finality of the Christian Judgment Day.

doom

late 14c., from doom (n.). Related: Doomed; dooming.