doomed

Meanings

1. 1adjectivecomparable

   Bound to fail or end badly, with little or no chance of a different result.

   Grammar: Used after be or before a noun: the plan was doomed, a doomed mission.

   Patterns

   • doomed to something
   • doomed to fail
   • doomed from the start

   The expedition was doomed from the start because of the weather.

   Without funding, the project is doomed to fail.

   Many doomed attempts were made to cross the river.

2. 2verbtransitive

   Past form of doom: to make something certain to meet a bad fate.

   Grammar: Past tense and past participle of doom, which takes an object: the error doomed the plan.

   Patterns

   • doom someone to something
   • be doomed by something

   One careless mistake doomed the whole experiment.

   The storm doomed the sailors to a long wait.

   His lack of preparation doomed him to defeat.

Common combinations

doomed to failure

The scheme was doomed to failure from the beginning.

doomed from the start

The marriage seemed doomed from the start.

doomed romance

The novel tells of a doomed romance during wartime.

doomed expedition

The doomed expedition never returned.

seem doomed

Without a goalkeeper, the team seemed doomed.

Synonyms and how they differ

fated

Fated suggests a destiny set in advance, not necessarily a bad one, while doomed is almost always negative.

ill-fated

Ill-fated describes something marked by bad luck, whereas doomed stresses certainty of failure.

hopeless

Hopeless describes a situation with no chance, but doomed also suggests an unavoidable bad end.

condemned

Condemned implies an official or moral sentence and often applies to people or buildings.

Opposites

Word family

doom noun

a terrible fate, especially death or ruin

doom verb

to make something certain to end badly

doomsday noun

the day of final judgment or the end of the world

doomster noun

someone who predicts disaster

Commonly confused: doomed or damned?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “doomed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words