to move quickly or suddenly with a loud humming or buzzing sound.
cars zooming by on the freeway.
to fly an airplane suddenly and sharply upward at great speed for a short distance, as in regaining altitude, clearing an obstacle, or signaling.
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.
Informal. to increase or rise suddenly and sharply.
Rents would zoom without rent control laws.
to cause (an airplane) to zoom.
to fly over (an obstacle) by zooming.
to make or cause to make a continuous buzzing or humming sound
to move or cause to move with such a sound
(intr) to move very rapidly; rush
we zoomed through town
to cause (an aircraft) to climb briefly at an unusually steep angle, or (of an aircraft) to climb in this way
(intr) (of prices) to rise rapidly
the sound or act of zooming
See zoom lens
First recorded in 1885–90; imitative
First recorded in 2010–15; shortening of Zoom Video Communications
Zoom zoom! This is a word for things moving quickly, either up or in a line. When you hear zoom, think fast. Zoom is a word that can be a sound effect, a noun, or a verb. In comic books, you might see a spaceship taking off with a word bubble saying ZOOM!. Fast cars can zoom; airplanes can zoom. You could say, "In one zoom, we were in the air!" Zooming can also mean to move while making a low humming noise that sounds like zoom. Like boom, zoom is a fun word: it's hard to say Zoom zoom! and be in a bad mood.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At Geffen, it became a gripping showpiece, like attempting to zoom in a Ferrari through Manhattan streets, were they ever empty — the thrill of taking it all in.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
Meanwhile, the real worry about the U.S. 10-year chart isn’t just the pennant pattern, it comes when you zoom way out, to put it in a generational perspective.
From MarketWatch • May 19, 2026
Joe Middleton, Devon site manager for the Woodland Trust, said: "Stay on the path, keep your dog on a lead, use the zoom on your camera, don't trample all over them."
From BBC • May 10, 2026
She told me that no one enjoyed watching the numbers zoom up on the pump’s display screen.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
I hear the faint click and zoom of the cameras beyond the fence.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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.
