damn
Americanverb (used with object)
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damns,
present (3rd person singular)
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damned,
past participle, past
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damning
present participle
-
to declare (something) to be bad, unfit, invalid, or illegal.
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to condemn as a failure.
to damn a play.
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to bring condemnation upon; ruin.
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to doom to eternal punishment or condemn to hell.
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to swear at or curse, using the word “damn”.
Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!
verb (used without object)
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damns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
damned,
past participle, past
-
damning
present participle
interjection
noun
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damns
plural
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the utterance of “damn” in swearing or for emphasis.
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something of negligible value.
not worth a damn.
adjective
adverb
idioms
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give a damn, to care; be concerned; consider as important: Also give a darn.
You shouldn't give a damn about their opinions.
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damn with faint praise, to praise so moderately as, in effect, to condemn.
The critic damned the opera with faint praise when he termed the production adequate.
-
damn well, damned.
interjection
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slang an exclamation of annoyance (often in exclamatory phrases such as damn it! damn you! etc)
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informal an exclamation of surprise or pleasure (esp in the exclamatory phrase damn me! )
adjective
adverb
adverb
verb
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to condemn as bad, worthless, etc
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to curse
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to condemn to eternal damnation
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(often passive) to doom to ruin; cause to fail
the venture was damned from the start
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(also intr) to prove (someone) guilty
damning evidence
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to swear (at) using the word damn
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informal as near as possible; very near
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to praise so unenthusiastically that the effect is condemnation
noun
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slang something of negligible value; jot (esp in the phrase not worth a damn )
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informal to be unconcerned; not care
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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damnsimple
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damnssimple
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have damnedperfect
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has damnedperfect
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am damningprogressive
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are damningprogressive
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is damningprogressive
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have been damningperfect progressive
-
has been damningperfect progressive
Past
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damnedsimple
-
had damnedperfect
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was damningprogressive
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were damningprogressive
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had been damningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of damn
1250–1300; Middle English dam ( p ) nen < Old French dam ( p ) ner < Latin damnāre to condemn, derivative of damnum damage, fine, harm
Explanation
Damn is a common, somewhat naughty exclamation. In one sense it means to condemn or send someone to hell, as in "God damn it!" Other times it means "a little amount," as in "I don't give a damn about baseball." People can give a damn, damn others to hell, and complain about the damn weather. Some religious people believe their sins could damn them to an eternity of torment and hellfire. You should be careful when peppering your speech with damn, as it might offend some ears. But sometimes damn can be used positively, as in "They make the best damn pizza in town!"
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:
Too pure for endless battles over a damn chair.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
"I mean, I'm already black and gay, like, damn, God," he joked.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
"He should resign, damn it!" shouted the crowd of farmers, laborers, miners, transport workers and teachers who brought traffic to a halt on the streets of the Andean city.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
He added: “Homeownership—a cornerstone of the American dream—is too far out of reach, and rent is too damn high.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
"You don't give a damn about anybody but yourself, do you? You mess up, Lafayette goes to Cecile and you go to jail. Is that what you want, man?"
From "Miracle's Boys" by Jacqueline Woodson
When Mr. Marx acclaims “Old Town Road” as an “incredible homegrown feat,” he praises what he damns elsewhere as the second sickness of our age.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
"They ran an atrocious service and what damns them most is the last minute cancellations," he said.
From BBC ● May 11, 2023
“The Towering Inferno,” an easy target, is skewered; more boldly, Hawke leads into “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” with a Martin Ritt quotation that damns the blockbuster with faint praise.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2022
Stone appears to give neither of these damns, opting for an approach that forgoes fidelity in favor of an aggressive examination of the internal and external forces laying siege to Lucia’s sanity.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 24, 2022
It is not justice that triumphs in the end—it is intellect that damns.
From A Butterfly on the Wheel by Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull
They soon understand that to be heartbroken is to be damned to know the exquisite pain of being alive.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
This route brings people together, including me and my car enthusiast friends, who regularly go on these driving excursions — gas prices be damned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
Nature be damned, tech entrepreneurs like Bryan Johnson are all in on biohacking.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
Many of our “symptoms” of disease actually represent ways in which some damned clever microbe modifies our bodies or our behavior such that we become enlisted to spread microbes.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
This is not as damning a result as it otherwise might seem.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
One damning part of the plan involved a potential future role for Infantino in the investment fund.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
And, most damning of all, he disappointed Lionel Messi.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
And with technology growing as rapidly as it is, it behooves the company’s bottom line to avoid damning and disparaging devices outright.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026
But I was there to push back against the old and damning narrative about being a black urban kid in America, the one that foretold failure and then hastened its arrival.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
