doom

[doom]

noun

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.

verb (used with object)

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

/ duːm /

noun

1. death or a terrible fate

2. a judgment or decision

3. (sometimes capital) another term for the Last Judgment

verb

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

Other Word Forms

• doomy adjective
• predoom verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of doom¹

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”); deem

Word History and Origins

Origin of doom¹

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

Synonym Study

See fate.

Example Sentences

His thoughtful and riveting performance ensures that we never stop pulling for Andy, even after he dooms the crew’s most vulnerable but least interesting member.

From Salon

The Terra Nova carried Captain Scott and his men on their doomed expedition to reach the South Pole more than a century ago.

From BBC

The bond vigilantes are striking, and this is the ultimate harbinger of doom.

From BBC

Now is not the time for Olympics doom and gloom.

From Los Angeles Times

A customarily bleak Aronofsky movie would be all too appropriate for this era, when doom has never felt more pervasive.

From Salon

Related Words

• calamity 
• cataclysm 
• catastrophe 
• disaster 
• downfall