Doom Definition, Usage, and Examples

Meaning 1：condemn to destruction (doom)

doom 🔊

/duːm/

vt.

To make something certain to fail, be destroyed, or have a very bad end.

Doom verb illustration: chess king surrounded by pawns, tipped over

condemn to destruction 🔊

➕

/kənˈdɛm tuː dɪˈstrʌkʃən/

vt.

To cause something or someone to inevitably meet a disastrous, destructive, or fatal end.

📁 Category：Behaviors & Actions 🔖 Level：Advanced

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Old English 'dom' (judgment, fate) with verbal suffix.

💡 Mnemonic

Imagine a 'doom' cloud that drops a 'D' (disaster) on everything, making failure certain.

📖 Example

Ignoring customer feedback doomed their new product to failure in the market. 🔊 Ignoring customer feedback doomed their new product to failure in the market.

🔗 Collocations

doom to failure – to make something destined for failure

doom from the start – to be fated to fail from the beginning

doom a project – to cause a project to be certain to fail

🔄 Synonyms

condemn (vt.) – to pronounce a judgment of failure upon; to declare unfit

damn (vt.) – to condemn to ruin or destruction; to curse with a bad fate

destine (vt.) – to set apart for a specific purpose, often a negative one

🚫 Antonyms

save (vt.) – to prevent harm or failure; to rescue from doom

rescue (vt.) – to deliver from danger or disaster

spare (vt.) – to refrain from destroying or punishing; to allow to survive

🌱 Derivatives

doomed (adj.) – destined to fail or be destroyed

doom (n.) – a terrible fate or inevitable destruction

doomsday (n.) – the day of final judgment; the end of the world

📖 Cultural Story

In medieval England, 'doom' referred to a final legal or religious judgment. The verb evolved to mean 'to condemn to a disastrous fate,' often used in prophetic contexts.