Meaning & use
looms
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“looms” is a form of “loom”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbintransitive
If something large or threatening looms, it seems to appear as a big, often scary shape, especially when it is close or getting closer.
Grammar: No object: you say 'The mountain looms ahead', not 'It looms the mountain'.
Patterns
- loom over someone or something
- loom ahead
- loom up
A dark shape loomed out of the fog.
The huge ship loomed over the small fishing boat.
As we drove closer, the mountain loomed ahead of us.
verbintransitive
If an unpleasant event or problem looms, it seems likely to happen soon and makes you feel worried.
Grammar: No object; often used with words like 'ahead' or 'large': 'The deadline looms large.'
Patterns
- loom ahead
- loom large
With exams looming, she stopped going out at weekends.
The threat of job losses loomed over the whole town.
A difficult decision loomed ahead of him.
nouncountable
A loom is a machine or frame used for weaving thread into cloth.
Grammar: Countable: one loom, two looms. Often used in the phrase 'on a loom'.
Patterns
- on a loom
- a hand loom
She learned to weave on her grandmother's old wooden loom.
The factory has over a hundred looms making cotton cloth.
He repaired the loom so the weaving could continue.
Word forms
| third person singular | looms |
|---|---|
| past tense | loomed |
| past participle | loomed |
| -ing form | looming |
| plural | looms |
Common combinations
- loom large
- The question of money loomed large in their discussions.
- loom over someone
- The tall buildings loomed over the narrow street.
- loom ahead
- A busy week looms ahead of us.
- loom out of the darkness
- A figure loomed out of the darkness.
- a hand loom
- The museum has a hand loom from the 1800s.
Synonyms and how they differ
- emerge
- Emerge means to come into view, often gradually; loom suggests something large or threatening appearing suddenly or filling your view.
- tower
- Tower means to be much taller than surrounding things; loom adds a feeling of threat or closeness.
- impend
- Impending is formal and means about to happen, usually of something bad; loom is more everyday and can also describe physical shapes.
Opposites
Word family
- looming adjective
- Used to describe something that seems large and close, often in a threatening way: a looming deadline.
Commonly confused: looms or loom (noun)?
looms vs loom (noun)
The noun 'loom' is a weaving machine. The verb 'loom' is about appearing large or threatening. They are spelled the same but have different meanings.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
'Loom' is intransitive and takes 'over' to show what it hangs above. 'Loom' cannot take a direct object, so 'looms the city' is wrong, and 'to' or 'at' do not fit this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “looms”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.