Meaning & use
damnable
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounold-fashionedinformal
Extremely bad or annoying, deserving harsh criticism or anger.
Grammar: Normally comes before the noun: a damnable nuisance.
Patterns
- a damnable nuisance
- damnable weather
I've lost my keys again, and it's a damnable nuisance.
The damnable rain has ruined the picnic.
He had the damnable habit of arriving just as the meeting ended.
adjectivecomparableformalreligion
Morally wicked or deserving condemnation, especially in a religious sense.
Grammar: Can follow a verb: the crime was damnable.
Patterns
- a damnable lie
- a damnable crime
The preacher called the betrayal a damnable act.
Such damnable cruelty cannot be excused.
Many critics found the cover-up damnable.
Word forms
| comparative | more damnable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most damnable |
Common combinations
- damnable nuisance
- The traffic was a damnable nuisance this morning.
- damnable lie
- He told a damnable lie to protect himself.
- damnable weather
- We've had a week of damnable weather.
- damnable habit
- Smoking is a damnable habit, he admitted.
- damnable cruelty
- The report described the damnable cruelty of the regime.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dreadful
- Dreadful is milder and everyday, so it carries less anger than damnable.
- abominable
- Abominable suggests disgust more than irritation, and it sounds a little more formal.
- confounded
- Confounded is a similarly dated word of annoyance, but it is lighter and often comic.
- infernal
- Infernal also expresses irritation and works well for noise or machinery, whereas damnable can also describe moral wrong.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: damnable or damning?
damnable vs damning
Damning describes evidence or criticism that strongly suggests guilt or failure, as in damning evidence. Damnable describes something that is itself bad or wicked.
Practice
Which word best completes the sentence in a slightly old-fashioned, angry tone: 'This ___ printer has jammed again!'
Choose one answer.
Damnable is an adjective of annoyance placed before a noun. Damning describes evidence of guilt, which is a tempting wrong option, and damnation is a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “damnable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.