Meanings
present singular third person foredooms · participle present foredooming · participle past foredoomed · past foredoomed
- transitiveTo predestine to a doom.
Thou art foredoomed to view the Stygian state.
1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC4 more examples
[W]hen to the inherent difficulties of so delicate and nice a social operation were added the spite and hate of conflict, the hell of war; when suspicion and cruelty were rife, and gaunt Hunger wept beside Bereavement,—in such a case, the work of any instrument of social regeneration was in large part foredoomed to failure.
1903 April 18, W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., →OCLC[O]ne feels that no community can really be as purged of peccant humours as the typical American has for the most part found itself foredoomed to look.
1906 August, Henry James, “Baltimore”, in The American Scene, London: Chapman and Hall, published 30 January 1907, →OCLC, section II, page 312To search for Tara of Helium in the vast, dim labyrinth of the pits of O-Tar seemed to the Gatholian a hopeless quest, foredoomed to failure.
1922, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Chessmen of Mars, The Gutenberg Project, published 2010They appeared, upon the surface, to possess all the qualities which were likely to recommend them to the fashionable society of the day; but their mission was foredoomed to failure.
1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, The Folio Society, published 2010, page 35
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA doom that is predicted; destiny.
Origin
From fore- + doom. Compare foredeem.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian орис, обричам
- орис (oris)A doom that is predicted
- обричам (obričam)to predestine a doom
Dutch noodlot, fataliteit
- noodlotA doom that is predicted
- fataliteitA doom that is predicted
- op voorhand veroordelento predestine a doom
French destin, fatalité
- destinA doom that is predicted
- fatalitéA doom that is predicted
- condamner à l'avanceto predestine a doom
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with foredoom
Cite this entry
foredoom. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foredoom
“foredoom.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foredoom. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “foredoom,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foredoom.
Source: foredoom on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.