damage
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English damage, from Old French damage, from Vulgar Latin *damnāticum from Classical Latin damnum. Compare modern French dommage. Displaced Middle English scath.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
damage (countable and uncountable, plural damages)
- Injury or harm; the condition or measure of something not being intact.
- The storm did a lot of damage to the area.
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Friendship”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
- Great errors and absurdities many […] commit for want of a friend to tell them of them, to the great damage both of their fame and fortune.
- (slang) Cost or expense.
- "What's the damage?" he asked the waiter.
Usage notes edit
Currently it is only used as an uncountable noun,[1][2][3][4][5] except in the plural. There are few examples of countable (singular) use.[6]
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
abstract measure of something not being intact; harm
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cost or expense
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Verb edit
damage (third-person singular simple present damages, present participle damaging, simple past and past participle damaged)
- (transitive) To impair the soundness, goodness, or value of; to harm or cause destruction.
- Be careful not to damage any of the fragile items while unpacking them.
- Cold temperatures, heavy rain, falling rocks, strong winds and glacier movement can damage the equipment.
- 1774, Edward Long, The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, book 2, chapter 7, 5:
- The building was erected in two years, at the parochial expence, on the foundation of the former one, which was irreparably damaged by the hurricane of Auguſt, 1712.
- 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:
- He […] came up to the English admiral and gave him a broadside, with which he killed many of his men and damaged the ship.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To undergo damage.
- (transitive) To remove a damaged or unsalable item from the sales floor for processing.
- Did you damage the items that the customer returned yet?
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to make something less intact or even destroy it; to harm or cause destruction
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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References edit
- ^ damage in Cambridge Dictionary
- ^ damage in Collins Dictionary
- ^ damage in Longman Dictionary
- ^ damage (noun) in Macmillan Dictionary
- ^ damage (noun) in Oxford Learners' Dictionaries
- ^ “that I…brought faire beauty to so fowle a domage” (Thomas Watson, The tears of Fancie, or Love disdained, 1593); “…however, ’tis an unspeakable damage to him for want of his money.” (Daniel Defoe, Colonel Jack, 1840)
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Old French damage, from Vulgar Latin *damnāticum.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
damage (plural damages)
- damage, harm, injury
- loss (of reputation, etc.)
- (rare) disability, weakness
- (law, often in the plural) damages (compensation for loss)
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
References edit
- “damāǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Old French edit
Etymology edit
From Vulgar Latin *damnāticum from Classical Latin damnum.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
damage oblique singular, m (oblique plural damages, nominative singular damages, nominative plural damage)