damn

From Middle English dampnen, from Old French damner, from Latin damnāre (“to condemn, inflict loss upon”), from damnum (“loss”).

• (without æ-raising) IPA^(key): /ˈdæm/, [ˈdæm]
• (æ-raising)
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈdeə̯m/, [ˈdeə̯m] ~ /ˈdɛə̯m/, [ˈdɛə̯m]

    • Audio (US):

      (file)

  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈdeːm/, [ˈdeːm]
• Rhymes: -æm
• Hyphenation: damn
• Homophone: dam

damn (third-person singular simple present damns, present participle damning, simple past and past participle damned)

1. (theology, transitive, intransitive) To condemn.

   The official position is that anyone who does this will be damned for all eternity.

   Only God can damn.

   I damn you eternally, fiend!

2. To condemn; to declare guilty; to doom; to adjudge to punishment.

   Synonyms: convict, doom

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.

   • 2018 May 12, Stephanie Sinclair, “'What I Learned From Adopting Two Children With Rare Genetic Conditions'”, in Time‎^[1], archived from the original on 5 November 2024:

     Lack of access to support services can damn children with disabilities and lesser means to lives where they never harness their full range of abilities.

3. To put out of favor; to ruin; to label negatively.

   I’m afraid that if I speak out on this, I’ll be damned as a troublemaker.

4. To condemn as unfit, harmful, invalid, immoral or illegal.

   Synonyms: anathematize, demonize, excoriate, vilify

   • 1708 November 8, Alexander Pope, letter to Henry Cromwell

     You are not so arrant a critic as to damn them [the works of modern poets] […] without hearing.

   • 1976 February 14, David Brill, “Suicide”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 33, page 11:

     Homosexuality and suicide have some common characteristics. Both are damned by the Western Judeo-Christian culture as sins (although the latter has only been considered such since the sixth century).

5. (slang, vulgar) To curse; put a curse upon.

   Synonyms: comminate, execrate, imprecate

   That man stole my wallet. Damn him!

6. (archaic) To invoke damnation; to curse.

   Synonyms: ban, execrate, point the bone

   • c. 1767-1774, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury

     […] while I inwardly damn.

damn (not comparable)

1. (slang, vulgar) Generic intensifier. Fucking; bloody.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:damned

   Shut the damn door!

   Damn freaks!

   Damn psychos!

   The whole damn building came down!

   Damn cultists are psychotic.

   • 2005, Sonic Team, Sega Studios USA, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sega, PS2, GameCube, Xbox:

     Where's that damn FOURTH Chaos Emerald!

damn (not comparable)

1. (slang, vulgar) Very; extremely.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:extremely

   That car was going damn fast!

   How are you damn quick?

   You must be so damn rapid.

   I damn well hope you never come back.

   • 1989 December 10, John Zeh, quoting Tony Allen, “AIDS Groups' Execs Arrested In D.C.”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 22, page 1:

     We're begging, damn near down on our knees, and not getting one red cent.

damn

1. (slang, vulgar) Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt or surprise, etc. See also dammit.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dammit

damn (plural damns) (slang vulgar)

1. The word "damn" employed as a curse.

   He said a few damns and left.

2. (chiefly in the negative) A small, negligible quantity, being of little value; a whit or jot.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum

   The new hires aren't worth a damn.

3. (chiefly in the negative) The smallest amount of concern or consideration.

   I don't give a damn.

• d-man, Mand, NDMA, NMDA, nam'd, mand, MDNA, mDNA