(dămd)
adjective damned·er (dămˈdər),
damned·est (dămˈdĭst) - Condemned, especially to eternal punishment.
- Informal Deserving condemnation; detestable: this damned weather.
- Used as an intensive: a damned fool.
adverb damneder,
damnedest damnedest Used as an intensive: a damned poor excuse.
noun Souls doomed to eternal punishment.
Regional Note: There are many regional variants, mostly euphemisms, for
damned, both as an oath and as a mild intensive. Southern exclamations and intensives tend to begin with
dad-, a euphemism for “god”—hence
dadblamed, dadblasted, dadburn, and
dadgum. Dadgum can be combined with
it in the interjection
dadgummit. Another such euphemism is the better-known
doggone, probably originally Southern but now widespread. Like
dadgum, doggone is used as a mild intensive:
“The best doggone deals in Alabama” (billboard in Montgomery).
Doggone likewise appears in phrasal interjections:
Doggonit, I dropped my hammer. A common Southern and South Midland variant of
damned is
durn, also euphemistic and relatively mild, as in this snatch of Baltimore dialogue:
“If that's not just the weirdest durn thing I ever laid eyes on” (Anne Tyler).
