darned

¹

[dahrnd]

adjective

1. irritating; damned; confounded.

   Get that darned bicycle out of the driveway!

adverb

1. very; extremely; remarkably.

   She's a darned good tennis player.

darned

²

[dahrnd]

adjective

1. (of a garment, especially a knitted one) mended by means of rows of stitches that cross each other.

   I can remember feeling embarrassed about having to wear darned socks to camp.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of darn.

darned

/ dɑːnd /

adverb

1. (intensifier)

   this darned car won't start

   a darned good shot

adjective

1. another word for damned damned

Other Word Forms

• undarned adjective
• well-darned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of darned¹

First recorded in 1800–10; euphemism for damned, perhaps by construing dern “dark, dreary” (now obsolete) as an intensifier in phrases such as dern and dreary, dern and doleful

Origin of darned²

First recorded in 1600–10 for the verb, and in 1620–30 for the adjective

Example Sentences

He’s won four Oscars and, more importantly, the ability to do whatever he darned well pleases.

From Los Angeles Times

The narrative backdrop is that after 32 years of who-coulda-thunk-it rampages, humankind is tired of dealing with the darned things.

From Los Angeles Times

"Our approach now, is to do our darnedest to keep bluetongue out of Wales," he said.

From BBC

But the darned toy has been blaring “Swan Lake” since “Ballerina” started and, to our annoyance, it’ll tinkle a few more times.

From Los Angeles Times

Just pretend that it’s a fictional biopic a la “The Brutalist” and go see the darned thing already.

From Los Angeles Times