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 Words From

• doom·y adjective
• pre·doom 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

Once I saw she was doing as many as 10 points worse than Biden did in 2020 in the counties he easily won I knew she was doomed.

From Salon

The haka in Parliament is one part of a wider outcry against the likely doomed bill.

From Salon

Yet, by the time the McWaids were rushing away — with 20- to 25-foot flames in the rearview mirror, right up against the area that they had cleared — McWaid was already certain his home was doomed.

From Los Angeles Times

We do not know what 2025 will bring and forecasts of doom could well be punctured by the mere dismal reality of gross incompetence; the future may just be dumb.

From Salon

He’s not only the show’s tragically doomed protagonist but also its storyteller, and he anchors the production with a handsome ordinariness.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• calamity
• cataclysm
• catastrophe
• disaster
• downfall