damned
Americanadjective
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damnedest,
superlative
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damndest
superlative
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condemned or doomed, especially to eternal punishment.
the wailing of damned souls.
-
detestable; loathsome.
Get that damned dog out of here!
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complete; absolute; utter.
a damned nuisance; a damned fool.
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Informal. extraordinary; amazing.
It was the damnedest thing I'd ever seen.
noun
adverb
idioms
adjective
adverb
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(intensifier)
a damned good try
a damned liar
I should damned well think so!
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used to indicate amazement, disavowal, or refusal (in such phrases as I'll be damned and damned if I care )
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of damned
First recorded in 1350–1400, damned is from the Middle English word dam(p)ned. See damn, -ed 2
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:
They soon understand that to be heartbroken is to be damned to know the exquisite pain of being alive.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
“Sometimes you gotta get off social media and demand answers. Cuz I’ll be damned if my ‘husband’ is a clown and we’re not at the circus.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 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
Then we were all singing, better than we had all night, better than we ever had, suddenly judged, damned, and purged in Caroline’s light.
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
We move on to another patchwork team doing its damndest to defy the odds.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2024
Marvel has an extensive catalogue of characters to anoint as the next generation of Avengers; it’s also doing its damndest to make the X-Men cool again.
From Salon ● Apr. 14, 2019
Added Vaughn: “If I think I can get the script good enough, then we are making it. We are doing our damndest to make that happen.”
From The Guardian ● Jun. 18, 2015
One had to do with the other: The simpler the system was, the less the players had to worry about anything but trying their damndest to execute it.
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2012
"Look at my place in Surrey, the damndest, dreariest curst hole y'ever saw——" "Nay George, when I saw it last it was——" "A plaguy, dreary hole, Jack!" snapped the Colonel.
From Our Admirable Betty A Romance by Jeffery Farnol
If a young band can meet a grim moment like this, the Neighborhood Kids did their damnedest on Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
“We’re doing our damnedest to get this right,” said Steven Siegel, a board member of the Colorado Healing Fund.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2023
"It can't achieve strategic surprise but it will try its damnedest to achieve operational and tactical surprise. That will involve concealment, camouflage, deception, misinformation which they used quite successfully last autumn."
From Reuters ● Jun. 14, 2023
“I just think that it’s a really major part of the American contribution to the history of comedy. I like to try my damnedest to keep it alive,” he said.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2022
“All right,” I said, trying my damnedest to sound like them.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
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.
