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damnation

[dam-ney-shuh n]
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noun
  1. the act of damning or the state of being damned.
  2. a cause or occasion of being damned.
  3. Theology. condemnation to eternal punishment as a consequence of sin.
  4. an oath expressing anger, disappointment, etc.
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interjection
  1. (used in exclamatory phrases to express anger, disappointment, etc.)
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Origin of damnation

1250–1300; Middle English dam(p)nacioun < Old French damnation < Latin damnātiōn- (stem of damnātiō), equivalent to damnāt(us) (past participle of damnāre; see damn, -ate1) + -iōn- -ion
Related formsnon·dam·na·tion, nounpre·dam·na·tion, nounself-dam·na·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for damnation

Historical Examples

  • The “Damnation of Faust,” dramatic legend, as Berlioz calls it, was written in 1846.

    The Standard Cantatas

    George P. Upton

  • And I will keep it,” he cried, “my beautiful little love, my—Damnation!

    The Master of the Ceremonies

    George Manville Fenn

  • Damnation is stated to be the punishment which those who resist the powers that be, will suffer.

    The Iron Furnace

    John H. Aughey

  • The "Damnation of Faust," now finished, was given at the Opéra, and was not a success.

  • Sandy Flash has a fine piece of horse-flesh, but you beat him once—Damnation!

British Dictionary definitions for damnation

damnation

noun
  1. the act of damning or state of being damned
  2. a cause or instance of being damned
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interjection
  1. an exclamation of anger, disappointment, etc
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for damnation

n.

c.1300, "condemnation to Hell by God," also "fact of being condemned by judicial sentence," from Old French damnation, from Latin damnationem (nominative damnatio), noun of action from past participle stem of damnare (see damn). As an imprecation, attested from c.1600.

Damnation follows death in other men,
But your damn'd Poet lives and writes agen.
[Pope, letter to Henry Cromwell, 1707 or 1708]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
damnation in Culture

damnation

Eternal punishment in hell. (See mortal sin/venial sin.)

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.