loom
verb/luːm/
/luːm/
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they loom | /luːm/ /luːm/ |
| he / she / it looms | /luːmz/ /luːmz/ |
| past simple loomed | /luːmd/ /luːmd/ |
| past participle loomed | /luːmd/ /luːmd/ |
| -ing form looming | /ˈluːmɪŋ/ /ˈluːmɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] (+ adv./prep.) to appear as a large shape that is not clear, especially in a frightening way
- A dark shape loomed up ahead of us.
Extra Examples- Ghostly shapes loomed out of the fog in front of him.
- He loomed above her.
- The tower loomed over the city.
- A figure loomed in the doorway.
- Dizzying walls of rock loomed on either side of them.
- Something huge and black loomed out of the mist.
- [intransitive] (of something bad) to appear serious and likely to happen soon
- There was a crisis looming.
Extra Examples- A new threat is now looming on the horizon.
- Further problems loomed ahead of us.
- The day of the election loomed ever closer.
Word Originverb mid 16th cent.: probably from Low German or Dutch; compare with East Frisian lōmen ‘move slowly’, Middle High German lüemen ‘be weary’.
Idioms
See loom in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee loom in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishloom large
- to be frightening and make you worried because something seems hard to avoid
- The prospect of war loomed large.
- The issue looms large in political campaigns nationwide.
Check pronunciation:
loom