damn
What does “damn” mean in English?
It's a mild expression of anger or emphasis, often used to express frustration or surprise. Literally, it means to condemn something.
Literally “condemn”
You might hear it as an exclamation like 'Damn!' when something goes wrong, similar to saying 'shit' but less aggressive. Its use can depend on the audience, as it may touch on religious sensitivities for some.
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Related English words
crap
2/5 · CoarseIt's a mild way to refer to rubbish, nonsense, or something of poor quality. Literally, it means excrement.
hell
1/5 · MildUsed as a mild exclamation or to intensify a statement, like saying 'hell yeah!'
ape shit
3/5 · VulgarIt means to become extremely angry or overly excited, often in a chaotic or uncontrolled way.
bloody
2/5 · CoarseIt's a mild swear-word intensifier often used to emphasize frustration or annoyance. Literally, it means 'covered in blood,' but that's not how it's used here.
About this data
Swear Atlas is a source-attested, AI-curated reference — not a native-speaker-certified dictionary. Meanings and the 1–5 Burn Rating are approximate editorial assessments that vary with context, region, tone and speaker. Inclusion of a word does not constitute endorsement of its use.
The literal gloss is a short editorial translation to show word-for-word sense, not an etymological claim.
“Sounds like” is an English-friendly approximation of how the word sounds, not an authoritative pronunciation. Where shown, the romanisation is a conventional Latin-script transliteration of the original spelling.
Term attested via 4troDev/profanity.csv, Viddexa SafeText (MIT). Editorial content © Swear Atlas.