damn
part of speech
verb (damn, damns, damned, damning); interjection (damn — rude); adjective and adverb (damn, damned — rude); noun (a damn — in «not give a damn»)
meaning for a pupil
1) (rude, mild swearing) Said when you are angry, annoyed or disappointed: «Damn! I missed the bus.» tree →
2) (rude) Used to make a word stronger: «a damn good idea», «damn it». tree →
3) (rude) «Not give a damn»: not care at all. tree →
4) (religion) To say someone will be punished for ever after death. tree →
5) (formal) To criticise strongly («the report damned the plan»); adjective «damning» = showing guilt clearly. tree →
sense in the lessons
Mild swearing heard in films, books and from grown-ups when cross; pupils should recognise it but not use it at school. In stories it shows anger or frustration. In formal news, «damning evidence» strongly shows someone did wrong. Phrases: «damn it», «damn!», «damn right», «not give a damn», «damning evidence».
examples
- (rude) «Damn! I've dropped my keys,» said Dad. tree →
- (rude) «That was a damn good match!» tree →
- (rude) «Damn it, the car won't start.» tree →
- (rude) «He doesn't give a damn about the rules.» tree →
- The report damned the company's safety record. tree →
- The video was damning evidence against the thief. tree →
note
Mild swearing — not for school, homework or polite talk; softer replacements: «darn», «dang» (US), «drat» (UK). Silent «n»: pronounced «dam». Homophone: «dam» (a wall holding back water) — very different meaning! Past: damned.
In the corpora
- "Gosh darn it" is an American polite form of the curse "God damn it".
- "Darn" is a mild word used instead of the swear word "damn".
- "Dang" is a mild word used instead of "damn"; it is American.
- "Bother!" is an old-fashioned British mild word for annoyance, used instead of "damn".
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «damn» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.