Library / English Dictionary

DOOM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An unpleasant or disastrous destiny

Example:

that's unfortunate but it isn't the end of the world

Synonyms:

day of reckoning; doom; doomsday; end of the world

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("doom" is a kind of...):

destiny; fate (an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future)

Derivation:

doom (make certain of the failure or destruction of)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Decree or designate beforehand

Example:

She was destined to become a great pianist

Synonyms:

designate; destine; doom; fate

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "doom" is one way to...):

ordain (issue an order)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make certain of the failure or destruction of

Example:

This decision will doom me to lose my position

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "doom" is one way to...):

assure; ensure; guarantee; insure; secure (make certain of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

doom (an unpleasant or disastrous destiny)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pronounce a sentence on (somebody) in a court of law

Example:

He was condemned to ten years in prison

Synonyms:

condemn; doom; sentence

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "doom" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

"Doom" entails doing...:

convict (find or declare guilty)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "doom"):

foredoom (doom beforehand)

reprobate (abandon to eternal damnation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Credits

 Context examples: 

However, the sheer number of what the scientists think were doomed octopuses and their eggs suggests that there's a better habitat nearby.

(Giant group of octopus moms discovered in the deep sea, National Science Foundation)

I watched her come—watched with the strangest anticipation; as though some word of doom were to be written on her disk.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was doomed to be a day of trial.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Otherwise the effort was doomed to failure.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Panic attacks begin with intense apprehension, fear or terror and, often, a feeling of impending doom.

(Panic Disorder, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The shark dropped back into the sea, helpless, yet with its full strength, doomed—to lingering starvation—a living death less meet for it than for the man who devised the punishment.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

No more to say—a—or listen to persuasion—go immediately—not capable—a—bear society—upon the track of devoted and doomed traitor—HEEP!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I shall deserve my doom.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs slammed into the planet, the impact set wildfires, triggered tsunamis and blasted so much sulfur into the atmosphere that it blocked the sun, which caused the global cooling that ultimately doomed the dinos.

(Rocks at asteroid impact site record first day of dinosaur extinction, National Science Foundation)

The researchers estimate that up to 1,140 species will be doomed to extinction by the accumulated deforestation in the cerrado within this period—a number eight times larger than all species registered as extinct in the world today.

(Species native to Brazil savanna likely to face extinction, Agência Brasil)