condemned

[kuhn-demd]

adjective

1. pronounced guilty; sentenced to punishment, especially capital punishment.

   A condemned man has the right to know how the execution will proceed.

2. deemed or declared unfit for use or service.

   One of the condemned buildings is going to be demolished to make room for luxury apartments.

3. viewed or spoken of with strong disapproval; judged as wrong or unacceptable, often formally.

   Apartheid, by universal agreement, is an inhumane, unjust, and condemned practice.

4. doomed to eternal punishment in hell; damned.

   At the Last Judgment, condemned sinners will offer excuses in vain.

noun

1. Usually the condemned

   1. the person or persons pronounced guilty in a court of law and sentenced to punishment, especially capital punishment.

      We join in prayer for the condemned, his victim, and their families.

   2. the damned.

      The condemned are those who are full of themselves and laugh at their unrighteousness.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of condemn.

Other Word Forms

• self-condemned adjective
• uncondemned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of condemned¹

condemn ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Qatar, a key mediator in the Hamas-Israel war, on Thursday condemned fresh Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, saying they threatened to upend a fragile weeks-long truce.

Read more on Barron's

Qatar, a key mediator in the Hamas-Israel war, condemned what it called the "brutal" Israeli air strikes, saying they were "a dangerous escalation that threatens to undermine the ceasefire agreement".

Read more on Barron's

Russia's Embassy in London says it's not undermining UK security and it has condemned UK Defence Secretary Healey's statement as provocative.

Read more on BBC

Fletcher, who met witnesses and survivors of the violence, condemned what he called "a sense of complete impunity behind these atrocities".

Read more on Barron's

Exiled opposition leader and former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo on Sunday strongly condemned "this practice of targeting the families of those who, from abroad, denounce and fight against the authoritarian excesses of the junta".

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• convicted