damage
Americannoun
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damages
plural
-
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.
-
Informal. Often damages. cost; expense; charge.
What are the damages for the lubrication job on my car?
verb (used with object)
-
damages,
present (3rd person singular)
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damaged,
past participle, past
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damaging
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
damages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
damaged,
past participle, past
-
damaging
present participle
noun
-
injury or harm impairing the function or condition of a person or thing
-
loss of something desirable
-
informal cost; expense (esp in the phrase what's the damage? )
verb
-
(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
-
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
-
damagesimple
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damagessimple
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have damagedperfect
-
has damagedperfect
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am damagingprogressive
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are damagingprogressive
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is damagingprogressive
-
have been damagingperfect progressive
-
has been damagingperfect progressive
Past
-
damagedsimple
-
had damagedperfect
-
was damagingprogressive
-
were damagingprogressive
-
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:
Shelters displayed QR codes so that those affected can report missing relatives or damage to their homes.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Over time, this mix of flattery and projected expertise does real damage, says Turkle, a clinical psychologist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The federal suit seeks one of the largest damage judgments ever rendered, as well as injunctive relief that would dramatically reshape how Meta does business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Ruben Loftus-Cheek rounded things off by racing beyond Martinez and not getting caught before he drove a shot past Senne Lammens, without whom the overall damage would have been worse.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
We all pitched in to repair the damage.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
In the bellwether trial that starts this week in Oakland, Calif., the four states are seeking $1.4 trillion—yes, trillion—in damages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Carradine’s family and estate are seeking unspecified general and wrongful-death damages and compensation for medical expenses incurred during his hospitalization.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
And it emerged from a damages suit about leaked records that placed no tax liability in controversy.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
With two convictions and nearly $1 billion in damages already stacked up, Meta will face another trial starting this week about alleged harms to children in a case brought by four US states.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
The German people also had to pay an enormous sum of money, called reparations, for war damages.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Berton, the national disaster agency spokesman, said at least 914 houses on the island were severely damaged and hundreds of others to a lesser degree.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Nineteen properties across five streets have been fully destroyed with another 18 severely damaged.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Emergency officials said nearly 160 houses, dozens of educational and health facilities and other public buildings were damaged when the earthquake struck the popular tourist island.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
The house he shares with his 86-year-old wife, who is partially bedridden, was not damaged, but he has only been permitted to visit it to pick up medication.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Hector carefully removes the bird, the damaged bars repairing as he sets the cage down.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Around 2,000 had been evacuated from nearby villages as the fire ripped through the surrounding hills, damaging homes and destroying cars in the early hours.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Such cells might eventually be given to people preventively, before those damaging aggregates begin accumulating.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
In a letter to university staff, Prof Deborah Prentice said she knows there is "anger and anxiety around this damaging and difficult case" and she shares concerns raised by those in Cambridge and beyond.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Monday, destroying 153 buildings and damaging many others across several provinces along the country’s western mountain range.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
But if tests showed that the bullet could be extracted without damaging nerves or organs, Garfield might undergo surgery.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
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.
