damage
Americannoun
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injury or harm that reduces value or usefulness.
The storm did considerable damage to the crops.
- Synonyms:
- loss
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Law. damages, the estimated money equivalent for detriment or injury sustained.
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Informal. Often damages. cost; expense; charge.
What are the damages for the lubrication job on my car?
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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injury or harm impairing the function or condition of a person or thing
-
loss of something desirable
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informal cost; expense (esp in the phrase what's the damage? )
verb
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(tr) to cause damage to
-
(intr) to suffer damage
Synonym Usage
Damage, detriment, harm, mischief refer to injuries of various kinds. Damage is the kind of injury or the effect of injury that directly impairs appearance, value, usefulness, soundness, etc.: Fire causes damage to property. Detriment is a falling off from an original condition as the result of damage, depreciation, devaluation, etc.: Overeating is a detriment to health. Harm may denote either physical hurt or mental, moral, or spiritual injury: bodily harm; harm to one's self-confidence. Mischief may be damage, harm, trouble, or misfortune caused by a person, especially if maliciously: an enemy who would do one mischief.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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damageabilitynoun
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damageablenessnoun
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damagernoun
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predamagenoun
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redamageverb (used with object)
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damageableadjective
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damagingadjective
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nondamageableadjective
-
quasi-damagedadjective
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undamageableadjective
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undamagedadjective
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damaginglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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damagesimple
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damagessimple
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have damagedperfect
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has damagedperfect
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am damagingprogressive
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are damagingprogressive
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is damagingprogressive
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have been damagingperfect progressive
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has been damagingperfect progressive
Past
-
damagedsimple
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had damagedperfect
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was damagingprogressive
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were damagingprogressive
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had been damagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of damage
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French, equivalent to dam (from Latin damnum “damage, fine”) + -age -age; see damn
Explanation
When you damage something you hurt it in a way that makes it less valuable or useful. Say you throw a baseball and it flies over your friend's head and cracks your dad's windshield. Congratulations, you've damaged your dad's car. Damage can also be a noun. That crack in the windshield? It doesn't matter whether you 'fess up or blame your friend or a giant falling acorn. It made the car less valuable and harder to drive, therefore it is considered damage. Another meaning of damage implies the damage done to your wallet when you buy something. In a restaurant, you might hear someone ask "What's the damage?" when the check comes to the table.
Vocabulary lists containing damage
"Handle with Care"
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"The Clever Magistrate"
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New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Representatives for landlords say they understand the importance of companionship that pets offer to tenants, but they can still face costly damage.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Tadeh Ghazalian, owner of Dialog, was still sizing up the damage to his restaurant the other day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
It’s hard to believe he will go through with them given the damage they’d do.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Wildfires have destroyed around 284,000 acres in Spain so far in 2026, nearly five times the damage they caused in the same period last year, according to Spain’s environment ministry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Such a massive quake could have caused damage much, much worse.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Former Coronation Street actor Qasim Akhtar is to receive "substantial" damages from the Sun's publisher, to settle a High Court libel claim.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The National Federation of the Blind has called for a full pavement parking ban, arguing any parking on pavements "damages them in the longer term, leaving them in a worse state for pedestrians".
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
A state court judge there is weighing further damages against the company that could mean it’s forced to potentially pay more and change the way it operates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Residents and businesses that lost property and suffered damages can find information about filing claims at www.LADWP.com/Claims.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
“Mrs. Blythe is insisting on a payment of four hundred dollars for damages to the property.”
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
That door was so damaged that it couldn't be salvaged, Cardoso said, so it was replicated.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Also in Yekaterinburg, Russian online retail giant Wildberries said it had evacuated its staff over a drone threat, but said its facility had not been damaged.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
Residents describe the conditions they’ve been living in nearly a month after a fire damaged a cold storage food warehouse in Boyle Heights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
Near Kangavar, in western Iran, satellite imagery from Planet Labs in March showed two tunnel entrances and an access road damaged by airstrikes aimed at blocking access to an Iranian missile base.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
And during the recombination of DNA, the strategy of interposing base against base is deployed yet again to restore damaged DNA.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The teen then “threatened to disclose damaging information about her relationship with defendant to end his career and destroy his life,” Silverman wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
It may directly reduce oxidative stress while also increasing mitochondrial microproteins that help restrain damaging cellular pathways.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
But most damaging to Spahn was the reaction from conservative colleagues.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Perhaps the most damaging economic factor is the absence of a credible horizon for stabilization and the state of limbo.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
He had seen what happened when a contractor failed to do this: ladders careening through windows and walls, tools damaging furniture, paint all over the lawn and driveway.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
