doomsday

[ doomz-dey ]

noun

1. Theology. the day of the Last Judgment, at the end of the world.
2. any day of judgment or sentence.
3. nuclear destruction of the world.

adjective

1. given to or marked by forebodings or predictions of impending calamity; especially concerned with or predicting future universal destruction:

   the doomsday issue of all-out nuclear war.

2. capable of causing widespread or total destruction:

   doomsday weapons.

doomsday

/ ˈduːmzˌdeɪ /

noun

1. sometimes capital the day on which the Last Judgment will occur
2. any day of reckoning
3. modifier characterized by predictions of disaster

   doomsday scenario

Word History and Origins

Origin of doomsday¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English domes dai, Old English dōmesdæg “Judgment Day”; equivalent to doom ( def ) + 's ¹( def ) + day ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of doomsday¹

Old English dōmes dæg Judgment Day; related to Old Norse domsdagr

Example Sentences

This investment is part of what we know keeps people in doomsday cults, Stone said, and can make it harder to walk away.

From FiveThirtyEight

Goldman opposed Metro’s financial plan, saying it added up to another untenable “doomsday” budget that would cause the region economic harm.

From Washington Post

It’s exceptionally unlikely, but as a subset of all the Giants’ division-winning simulations — only 2,608 in total, out of 50,000 — it’s actually more probable than our final doomsday scenario.

From FiveThirtyEight

Prosecutors are also probing Shincheonji, a quasi-Christian doomsday sect.

From Ozy

Elon Musk throws out ship dates for fully autonomous Teslas as often as doomsday cult leaders reschedule the end of the world.

From Time

After a few hundred years, these voices start to resemble doomsday cultists—the end is often heralded but never delivered.

From The Daily Beast

Many doomsday preppers have spent their lives stocking up for an emergency of the type this contagious hemorrhagic fever presents.

From The Daily Beast

Men and women “go on bucket list,” some commit suicide, and others go full on doomsday hoarder.

From The Daily Beast

On federal spending he warns that the nation is headed for “a doomsday scenario.”

From The Daily Beast

But he was fully devoted to EL, and made preparations for the looming doomsday.

From The Daily Beast

He reaches Berlin, Sunday, 27th August; finds a world gone all to a kind of doomsday with him there, poor gentleman.

From Project Gutenberg

Secretary Stanton declared that the delay would be till doomsday if Thomas waited for the latter.

From Project Gutenberg

This sort of man always has to be helped, otherwise he goes on beginning and leaving off suddenly until Doomsday.

From Project Gutenberg

You have, perhaps, heard of five orders; but there are only two real orders, and there never can be any more until doomsday.

From Project Gutenberg

If I wait for some one to come and help me, I may wait until doomsday as this is a side road and little traveled.'

From Project Gutenberg