English▸ verb [with object]
1 (be damned) (in Christian belief) be condemned by God to suffer eternal punishment in hell:
be forever damned with Lucifer.
▪ be doomed to misfortune or failure:
the enterprise was damned.
2 condemn, especially by the public expression of disapproval:
intellectuals whom he damns as rigid doctrinaire idealists.
▪ curse (someone or something):
she cleared her throat, damning it for its huskiness
damn him for making this sound trivial.
▸ exclamation informal expressing anger, surprise, or frustration:
Damn! I completely forgot!
▸ adjective informal used to emphasize or express anger or frustration with someone or something:
turn that damn thing off!
▸ adverb informal used for emphasis or to express anger or frustration:
don't be so damn silly!
– PHRASES
— be damned
used to express rejection of someone or something previously mentioned:
nothing at all:
used to emphasize a statement, especially when the speaker is angry:
praise someone or something so unenthusiastically as to imply condemnation:
have no value at all:
not care at all:
— be damned
used to express rejection of someone or something previously mentioned:
“Glory be damned!”.
damn all British informal nothing at all:
there's damn all you can do about it.
damn well informal used to emphasize a statement, especially when the speaker is angry:
this is your mess and you can damn well clear it up!
damn someone or something with faint praise praise someone or something so unenthusiastically as to imply condemnation:
it was a wretched review, damning poor Lisa with faint praise.
I'll be damned (also I'm damned) informal not be worth a damn informal have no value at all:
your evidence isn't worth a damn.
not give a damn (also not care a damn) informal not care at all:
they don't give a damn about the environment.
– ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French dam(p)ner, from Latin dam(p)nare ‘inflict loss on’, from damnum ‘loss, damage’.