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.
Joined together these UK telescopes can zoom into objects in deep space and see them in incredible detail - with similar resolution to the Hubble space telescope.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Admins now zoom in on aluminum cans to cross-reference dent patterns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
"These findings allow our community to zoom in on factors tied to longevity and, more importantly, they point to what maybe are key elements to extend the healthspan of all."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 21, 2026
Walking through Lee’s garden, as birds, bees and butterflies zoom around the yard’s bright flowers, it’s obvious she loves color.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Bernabe negotiated a tight U-turn, paused to let a two-ton flatbed, piled high with hay bales from Colorado, zoom down the highway, then crossed the road and pulled over slightly ahead of Amarante.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Sir Ed said on X that he would attend the meeting by Zoom as he was with his family in France and had a disabled son who needed "24/7 care".
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
When I reached Watkins via Zoom to talk about the book, I asked her how she does it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
“I’m a recruiter and I set a candidate up with a hiring manager and she took the Zoom interview from her bed,” said another, apparently horrified, commenter.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
He says he has since changed his name on Zoom from “Jeremy Levine” to “Jeremy Levine I do not consent to transcribing or recording.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Once the video of my speech finished playing, I quickly muted the live YouTube video and switched to another window where the Zoom call was already loaded.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
After some back and forth, McElwee relented, letting Adrian try his slow zooms and dynamic shots.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
The camera then zooms into Beddoes' face and he pushes it away.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“Nevertheless, I personally don’t think you can short stocks right now until bonds re-break, or chase back into positioning zooms to ‘extreme greedy/ FOMO’ behavior first,” said the strategist.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026
Clocky, a wheeled device that made its debut about 20 years ago, hops off a bedside table and beeps as it zooms around the room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
The elevator zooms upward so fast my stomach sinks and my ears pop.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
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.
