doom
Destiny, especially terrible.
Noun
- Destiny, especially terrible.
- This, for the night; by day, the web and loom, / And homely houſhold-taſk, ſhall be her doom, - a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer's Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […],...
- "When should I expect him?" Roy said, resigned to his doom. - 2007, Billy Lee Brammer, “Fustian Days: Book One: Sonic Goddam Boom”, in Southwest Review, volume 92, number 4, page 495:
- We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom. - 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Virmire:
Synonyms: lot orlay chance destin destiny doom fatality fate foredoom foreordination fortune kismet portion predestination predestiny preordination qadar weird wyrd
- An undesirable fate; an impending severe occurrence or danger that seems inevitable.
- unlike Vincent, he wasn't quite taken in by the outbreak of hopefulness on all sides. After all, nothing about the tanks or the process had been resolved; an air of doom still hung undisturbed over the project. - 2004,...
- Such paintings are inherently moody, and Elliott likes that-even as he carefully avoids dictating a specific mood. "Yesterday I painted the last light of the day-the trees looked pink, and the mountain's shadow was...
- Chung was the first of its four picks in Round 2. His arrival might spell doom for Rodney Harrison. - 2009 April 27, Nate Davis, “After Lions^ gamble, lots of big men tapped”, in USA Today, Sports, page 7C:
Antonyms: fortune
- Dread; a feeling of danger, impending danger, darkness, or despair.
- She halted her pacing steps as the ugly significance of Nicholas Caulfield's pending arrival washed over her. Ruin. Destitution. Doom settled like a heavy stone in her chest. - 2006, Sophie Jordan, Once upon a wedding...
- Feeling doom, as we learned in the beautiful folk language of blacks who knew the truth of it, began with a single unexpected oddity — a redbird out of season, hail out of cloudless skies, dogs cowering under the house...
- I'm taking medications every day; never thinking I would be spiraling into nothing but a nightmare that made me feel doom. - 2008, Beverly Fincham, Real Life Freedom, page 25:
- A law.
- "What ye will not that other men should do unto you, that do ye not unto other men." "From this one doom," comments Alfred, "a man may bethink him how he should judge every one rightly: he needs no other doombook." -...
- A judgment or decision.
- And there he learned of things and haps to come, / To give foreknowledge true, and certain doom. - 1600, Edward Fairfax, transl., Jerusalem Delivered, translation of Gerusalemme Liberata by Torquato Tasso:
- But the day of doome shall be the end of this time, and the beginning of the immortality for to come, wherein corruption is past. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC,...
- Kings are spoken of as if they had a store of "Themistes" ready to hand for use; but it must be distinctly understood that they are not laws, but judgments, or, to take the exact Teutonic equivalent, "dooms." - 1861,...
- A sentence or penalty for illegal behaviour.
- The first dooms of London provide especially the recovery of cattle belonging to the citizens. - 1874, John Richard Green, A Short History of the English People:
- Appeals were by our ancient law styled falsing of dooms. They were to be entered immediately after doom or sentence was pronounced, - 1828, John Erskine with Sir George Mackenzie and James Ivory, An institute of the law...
- The billiard sharp whom anyone catches / His doom’s extremely hard— / He’s made to dwell— / In a dungeon cell / On a spot that’s always barred. - 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, “A More...
- Death.
- They met an untimely doom when the mineshaft caved in.
- This is the day of doom for Bassianus. - 1593, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus:
- Harley got devoured by the undead / Lurking down in some old wizard's tomb / You can say there's no such thing as zombies / But that's how Harley Warren met his doom - 2006, The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society,...
Synonyms: fatality mortality death tomb celestial transfer decease decomposition defunction dematerialization demise dirt nap doom exit expiration liquidation passing quietus repose sleep of the just sunset the big sleep crash downfall fall
- The Last Judgment; or, an artistic representation thereof.
Origin
From Middle English doom, dom, from Old English dōm (“judgement”), from Proto-West Germanic *dōm, from Proto-Germanic *dōmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰóh₁mos. Cognates Compare Dutch doem (“condemnation, doom; judgement”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish dom (“judgement”), Faroese and Icelandic dómur (“judgement”), Gothic 𐌳𐍉𐌼𐍃 (dōms, “insight, judgement”); also Ancient Greek θωμός (thōmós, “heap”), Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian ду́ма (dúma, “thought”), Polish duma (“pride”). Doublet of duma. See also deem.
Forms
Hyponyms
Related
Derived
addoom Barrel of Doom crack of doom day of doom death-doom demon duck of doom Doom doom and gloom doom-and-gloom doom-and-gloomer doomcore doomer doom folk doomful doomism doomist doomjobbing doomless doomlike doom loop doom metal doom-monger doom-mongering doom palm
Phrase
- Initialism of didn't organize, only moved; used in compounds designating a miscellaneous collection of items which one has failed to properly organize.
- I tried to organize my stuff but just ended up making a big doom pile.
- One day in April of 2021, Lindsey Bee decided it was time to deal with the laundry "doom piles" that had formed around her house. So she did what many people do when faced with a boring task. She turned to TikTok. -...
- While digital clutter may not be physical, like the "doom piles" and junk drawers in your home, the anxiety and distress it induces is real, said Kerry Lakey, a lecturer in psychology at Northumbria University in...
Related: DOOM
Verb
- To pronounce judgment or sentence on; to condemn.
- a criminal doomed to death
- Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls. - 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson,...
- There was certainly plenty of badass Arya before and after—more on that soon—but here was Arya the living, breathing human, outnumbered and petrified of making the one slight wrong move that would doom her. - 2019 April...
Synonyms: deem sentence adjudge convict condemn damn doom judge
- To destine; to fix irrevocably the ill fate of.
- A man of genius […] doomed to struggle with difficulties. - 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay,...
Synonyms: curse fate foreordain preordain
- To judge; to estimate or determine as a judge.
- And while we know not that the King of heaven hath not doomed this place our safe retreat - 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold...
Synonyms: adjudge deem rule on adjudicate arbitrate doom hear judge settle try
- To ordain as a penalty; hence, to mulct or fine.
- Have I tongue to doom my brother's death? - c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:...
- To assess a tax upon, by estimate or at discretion.
- To be extremely pessimistic about something.
- Every time I see people dooming over North America I just assume its because they've never seen the parts of it that look like this - 2023 September 14, @alanthefisher, X (post), archived from the original on 07 May...
- You can tell why Democrats were dooming like two months ago - 2024 September 17, @USA_Polling, X (post), archived from the original on 07 May 2026:
- Earlier today I wanted to doom about Gemini 3.1 Pro completely failing ARC-AGI-3. - 2026 February 20, @scaling01, X (post), archived from the original on 07 May 2026: