Library / English Dictionary

CONDEMN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Declare or judge unfit for use or habitation

Example:

The building was condemned by the inspector

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "condemn" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

"Condemn" entails doing...:

evaluate; judge; pass judgment (form a critical opinion of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "condemn"):

boo; hiss (show displeasure, as after a performance or speech)

explode (drive from the stage by noisy disapproval)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

condemnation ((law) the act of condemning (as land forfeited for public use) or judging to be unfit for use (as a food product or an unsafe building))

condemnation (the condition of being strongly disapproved of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Express strong disapproval of

Example:

These ideas were reprobated

Synonyms:

condemn; decry; excoriate; objurgate; reprobate

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "condemn" is one way to...):

denounce (speak out against)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

condemnation (an expression of strong disapproval; pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable)

condemnation (the condition of being strongly disapproved of)

condemnatory (containing or imposing condemnation or censure)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pronounce a sentence on (somebody) in a court of law

Example:

He was condemned to ten years in prison

Synonyms:

condemn; doom; sentence

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "condemn" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

"Condemn" entails doing...:

convict (find or declare guilty)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "condemn"):

foredoom (doom beforehand)

reprobate (abandon to eternal damnation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They want to condemn the prisoners

Derivation:

condemnation (an expression of strong disapproval; pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable)

condemnation (the condition of being strongly disapproved of)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Demonstrate the guilt of (someone)

Example:

Her strange behavior condemned her

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "condemn" is one way to...):

attest; certify; demonstrate; evidence; manifest (provide evidence for; stand as proof of; show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "condemn"):

attaint (condemn by attainder)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

condemnation (an expression of strong disapproval; pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable)

condemnation (the condition of being strongly disapproved of)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Appropriate (property) for public use

Example:

the county condemned the land to build a highway

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "condemn" is one way to...):

attach; confiscate; impound; seize; sequester (take temporary possession of as a security, by legal authority)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Compel or force into a particular state or activity

Example:

His devotion to his sick wife condemned him to a lonely existence

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "condemn" is one way to...):

compel; obligate; oblige (force somebody to do something)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

If I have wounded your sister's feelings, it was unknowingly done and though the motives which governed me may to you very naturally appear insufficient, I have not yet learnt to condemn them.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Don't let us be severe, don't let us be in a hurry to condemn him.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And now, gentleman, I would ask you whether we have anything to fear from the law, or whether any judge upon earth would condemn my Gennaro for what he has done?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But he was now married; and she condemned her heart for the lurking flattery, which so much heightened the pain of the intelligence.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Where any one body of educated men, of whatever denomination, are condemned indiscriminately, there must be a deficiency of information, or (smiling) of something else.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

And then he condemned the fear as a disloyalty, and broke the seal.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“A boon, gracious sir, a boon!” cried the condemned man.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Having been condemned, by nature and fortune, to active and restless life, in two months after my return, I again left my native country, and took shipping in the Downs, on the 20th day of June, 1702, in the Adventure, Captain John Nicholas, a Cornish man, commander, bound for Surat.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I know for myself that I was shocked into admiration of the boy, and I saw in him the splendid invincibleness of immortality rising above the flesh and the fears of the flesh, as in the prophets of old, to condemn unrighteousness.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Though condemning her for the past, and considering it with high and unjust resentment, though perfectly careless of her, and though becoming attached to another, still he could not see her suffer, without the desire of giving her relief.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)