Hopeless or futile;
something that cannot be repaired or salvaged.
Example:
1) The local
football team decided to move to another city, so our proposal for a new
stadium was DOA.
2) The victim was rushed to the emergency
room, where doctors pronounced him DOA.
Etymology:
DOA comes from the
first letters of the phrase 'dead on arrival', which is used in hospitals
to describe dead people who are brought to the emergency room. As slang,
the term can be used to describe anything that is no longer possible.
