Doomed

How to spell doomed

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce doomed

What does doomed mean?

1. adjectiveCertain to fail, suffer, or be destroyed; having no chance of a good outcome.
2. verbCondemned someone or something to an unavoidable and unhappy fate.

Doomed in a sentence

• adjective

  The project felt doomed from the moment the budget was cut.

• verb

  One careless email doomed his chances of promotion.

• adjective

  Without fresh investment, the small shop was doomed to close.

• verb

  The sudden storm doomed the entire harvest that autumn.

Where does doomed come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word rests on the Old English noun 'dom', which meant a judgement, a law, or a formal decree handed down by an authority. It belongs to the Germanic family and is related to the verb 'do', carrying the original sense of something that is set or put in place. For centuries 'dom' simply meant a verdict, which is why an old book of laws could be called a 'doom-book' and the great medieval survey of England became the Domesday Book. The darker modern flavour, fate sealed toward ruin or death, grew out of the religious idea of the Last Judgement, when final sentence is passed. By the time the verb gained its '-ed' forms, 'doomed' had settled into meaning condemned to an unavoidable and grim end. The double 'o' simply reflects the long vowel of that ancient root.

How the word is built

• doom (fate, judgement, condemnation)
• -ed (past tense / past participle suffix)