doomsday
/ˈduːmzdeɪ
/noun
1The last day of the world’s existence: Bede believed that the time of doomsday is concealed from mankind...
- But those doomsdays were the product of faith; reason always used to say the world will continue.
- And if this situation is allowed to continue, it won't be long before the aggressive human species are the only creatures on the planet and surely that will be the doomsday of planet Earth.
- Global warming, they have been telling us for years, will prove to be man's undoing, man creating his own doomsday.
1.1(In religious belief) the day of the Last Judgement.After the first long sermon preaches a doomsday envisionment of religion, where a vindictive God has nothing but wrath for sinners, he is sure that every word was aimed at him....
- Twain sometimes thought of himself as a modern Noah warning of a doomsday to come.
- Many of them lead to mass suicides of some kind with members killing themselves based on their doomsday beliefs.
1.2A time or event of crisis or great danger: [as modifier]: in all the concern over greenhouse warming, one doomsday scenario stands out...
- He further contended that this talk of 20,000 extra vehicles was only in the event of a doomsday scenario and was not practical.
- People feel their confidence boosted by that event; it's the experience of hearing a doomsday scenario and finding out it wasn't so bad.
- A newly discovered asteroid has zero chance of colliding with Earth in 11 years, although preliminary data had suggested such a doomsday scenario was possible, astronomers said this week.
Phrases
till doomsday
Origin
Old English dōmes dæg (see doom, day).