damages
Britishplural noun
Explanation
Damages are the official amount of money awarded to the winner in a law suit. If you're hurt in a car accident that's another driver's fault, you may end up collecting damages. The legal term damages usually refers to money that's owed or received to compensate someone for a loss or an injury. If a business owner's negligence — not clearing ice from a sidewalk, for example — causes you to be injured, you can sue her for damages to pay for your broken arm and the days of work you had to miss. Sometimes a court awards "punitive damages" as well, which are specifically intended to punish the defendant.
Vocabulary lists containing damages
The Skin I'm In
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Hitler Youth
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City of the Plague God
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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.
She is seeking damages for the misuse of her private information and breaches of data protection rules, as well as a court order requiring the company to find and remove any remaining online images.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Meta has expressed willingness to work with the states and schools to continue to make its products safe while calling the estimate of more than $1 trillion in damages absurd.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Her goal has been to uncover why pathological fat loss damages metabolism and to improve treatment options for people with lipodystrophy syndromes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
The jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
This alarmed the Nazi leaders, who worried that the damages would bankrupt the German insurance companies.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
