damage

damage

English

Etymology

From Middle English damage, from Old French damage, from Vulgar Latin *damnāticum from Classical Latin damnum. Compare modern French dommage. Largely displaced native Middle English scath (whence unscathed). Cognate with Spanish daño.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdæmɪd͡ʒ/, (Indic) /ˈɖæmeːd͡ʒ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: dam‧age
  • Rhymes: -æmɪdʒ

Noun

damage (countable and uncountable, plural damages)

  1. Injury or harm; the condition or measure of something not being intact.
    the damage is already done
    The storm did a lot of damage to the area.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Friendship”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
      Great errors and absurdities many […] commit for want of a friend to tell them of them, to the great damage both of their fame and fortune.
  2. (slang) Cost or expense.
    "What's the damage?" he asked the waiter.

Usage notes

Currently it is only used as an uncountable noun,[1][2][3][4][5] except in the specialist legal plural-only sense, which see. There are few examples of the obsolete countable (singular) use.[6]

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

damage (third-person singular simple present damages, present participle damaging, simple past and past participle damaged)

  1. (transitive) To impair the soundness, goodness, or value of; to harm or cause destruction.
    Synonyms: harm, injure; see also Thesaurus:harm, Thesaurus:destroy
    Be careful not to damage any of the fragile items while unpacking them.
    Cold temperatures, heavy rain, falling rocks, strong winds and glacier movement can damage the equipment.
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To undergo damage; to take damage.
  3. (transitive) To remove a damaged or unsalable item from the sales floor for processing.
    Did you damage the items that the customer returned yet?

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

  1. ^ “damage”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
  2. ^ “damage”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
  3. ^ “damage” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
  4. ^ “damage” (US) / “damage” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
  5. ^ “damage”, in Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  6. ^ “that I…brought faire beauty to so fowle a domage” (Thomas Watson, The tears of Fancie, or Love disdained, 1593); “…however, ’tis an unspeakable damage to him for want of his money.” (Daniel Defoe, Colonel Jack, 1840)

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French damage, from Vulgar Latin *damnāticum.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /daˈmaːd͡ʒ(ə)/, /dɔˈmaːd͡ʒ(ə)/, /ˈdamad͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun

damage (plural damages)

  1. damage, harm, injury
  2. loss (of reputation, etc.)
  3. (rare) disability, weakness
  4. (law, often in the plural) damages (compensation for loss)

Descendants

  • English: damage
  • Scots: dammish

References

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *damnāticum from Classical Latin damnum.

Pronunciation

  • (classical) IPA(key): /daˈmadʒə/
  • (late) IPA(key): /daˈmaʒə/

Noun

damage oblique singular, m (oblique plural damages, nominative singular damages, nominative plural damage)

  1. damage
  2. injury, hurt, insult

Descendants

  • French: dommage
  • Norman: dommage
  • → Friulian: daneç
  • → Irish: damáiste
  • → Middle English: damage (see there for further descendants)
  • → Neapolitan: dammaggio
  • → Piedmontese: darmage, darmagi
  • → Sicilian: damaggiu
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