Damn vs Dumb - What's the difference?
damn | dumb |
(theology, transitive, intransitive) To condemn to hell.
To condemn; to declare guilty; to doom; to adjudge to punishment; to sentence; to censure.
* Shakespeare
To put out of favor; to ruin; to label negatively.
To condemn as unfit, harmful, of poor quality, unsuccessful, invalid, immoral or illegal.
* Alexander Pope
(profane) To curse; put a curse upon.
(archaic) To invoke damnation; to curse.
* Goldsmith:
(profane) Fucking; bloody.
(profane) Very, extremely.
The use of "damn" as a curse.
(profane) A small, negligible quantity, being of little value.
(profane) The smallest amount of concern or consideration.
(label) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
* Hooker
(label) Silent; unaccompanied by words.
* Shakespeare
*
* J. C. Shairp
extremely stupid.
(label) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.
* De Foe
To silence.
* 1911 , Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison , p. 272,
To make stupid.
* 2003 , Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice , p. 124,
To represent as stupid.
* 2004 , Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa , p. 107,
To reduce the intellectual demands of.
* 2002 , Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing , p. 126,
As verbs the difference between damn and dumb
is that damn is to condemn to hell while dumb is to silence.As adjectives the difference between damn and dumb
is that damn is Generic intensifier. Fucking; bloody while dumb is unable to speak; lacking power of speech.As an adverb damn
is very, extremely.As an interjection damn
is Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc. See also dammit.As a noun damn
is the use of "damn" as a curse.damn
English
Verb
(en verb)- The official position is that anyone who does this will be damned for all eternity.
- Only God can ''damn.'' — ''I '''damn you eternally, fiend!
- He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.
- I’m afraid that if I speak out on this, I’ll be damned as a troublemaker.
- You are not so arrant a critic as to damn them [the works of modern poets] without hearing.
- That man stole my wallet. Damn him!
- while I inwardly damn .
Adjective
(-)- Shut the damn door!
Synonyms
* see alsoAdverb
(-)- That car was going damn fast!
Derived terms
* dayum * darn * dizamnSynonyms
* see also '''Noun
(en noun)- said a few damns and left
- The new hires aren't worth a damn .
- I don’t give a damn .
dumb
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) dumb, from (etyl) . In ordinary spoken English, a phrase like "He is dumb" is interpreted as "He is stupid" rather than "He lacks the power of speech". The latter example, however, is the original sense of the word. The senses of stupid'', ''unintellectual'', and ''pointless developed under the influence of the (etyl) word dumm.Adjective
(er)- to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
- dumb show
- This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
- to pierce into the dumb past
- You are so dumb ! You don't even know how to make toast!
- This is dumb ! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!
- Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.
- Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
Synonyms
* (unable to speak) dumbstruck, mute, speechless, wordless * (stupid) feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid * banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgarDerived terms
* dumb as a box of rocks * dumben * dumbhood * dummy * dumbnessEtymology 2
From (etyl) dumbien, from (etyl) dumbian (more commonly in compound .Verb
(en verb)- The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
- I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
- Bad-mouthing Neanderthals . . . is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. . . . I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.
- The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.