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DAMN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Something of little value
Example:
not worth shucks
Synonyms:
damn; darn; hoot; red cent; shit; shucks; tinker's dam; tinker's damn
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("damn" is a kind of...):
ineptitude; worthlessness (having no qualities that would render it valuable or useful)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Expletives used informally as intensifiers
Example:
an infernal nuisance
Synonyms:
blame; blamed; blasted; blessed; damn; damned; darned; deuced; goddam; goddamn; goddamned; infernal
Classified under:
Similar:
cursed; curst (deserving a curse; sometimes used as an intensifier)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Used as expletives
Example:
oh, damn (or goddamn)!
Synonyms:
damn; goddamn
Classified under:
Similar:
cursed; curst (deserving a curse; sometimes used as an intensifier)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they damn ... he / she / it damns
Past simple: damned
Past participle: damned
-ing form: damning
Sense 1
Meaning:
Wish harm upon; invoke evil upon
Example:
The bad witch cursed the child
Synonyms:
anathemise; anathemize; bedamn; beshrew; curse; damn; imprecate; maledict
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "damn" is one way to...):
arouse; bring up; call down; call forth; conjure; conjure up; evoke; invoke; put forward; raise; stir (summon into action or bring into existence, often as if by magic)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Derivation:
damnation (the act of damning)
damnation (the state of being condemned to eternal punishment in Hell)
damnatory (threatening with damnation)
IV. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Extremely
Example:
Why are you so all-fired aggressive?
Synonyms:
all-fired; all-firedly; bloody; damn
Classified under:
Domain usage:
intensifier; intensive (a modifier that has little meaning except to intensify the meaning it modifies)
Context examples:
You can't travel a mile without that, I know, in this damned cold climate.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The gunner turned damned nasty at the last, and I had to square him with an extra hundred dollars or it would have been nitsky for you and me. ‘Nothin’ doin’!’ says he, and he meant it, too, but the last hundred did it.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Damn all thick-headed Dutchmen!
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
He had the short body, the big shoulders, the round chest, no neck, a great ruddy frill of a beard, the tufted eyebrows, the 'What do you want, damn you!' look about the eyes, and the whole catalogue.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Who are you? and what are you? damn you!
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
“I could hardly imagine a more damning case,” I remarked.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"Well, I'll be damned!" he enunciated slowly and solemnly.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
“It’s like your damned himpudence to say so,” said an angry voice from the throng behind him.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“You damn little sneak! I’ll shut yer mouth!”
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
"Now growl, damn you, growl," he said, as he patted the responsive head and rubbed the flattening ears.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
