Damaging

How to spell damaging

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce damaging

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does damaging mean?

1. adjectiveCausing harm, injury, or a worsening of someone's situation or reputation.
2. verbIn the act of harming or breaking something, used as the continuous form of the verb 'damage'.

Damaging in a sentence

• adjective

  The leaked memo was deeply damaging to the company's reputation.

• verb

  Rough handling during shipping risks damaging the fragile glassware.

• adjective

  Years of heavy lifting had a damaging effect on his back.

• verb

  He was caught damaging the parked cars on the street.

Where does damaging come from?

Language of origin: French

This word traces back to the Latin damnum, which literally meant 'loss' or 'harm', the same root that gives us 'damn' and 'condemn'. From damnum the medieval Latin damnaticum developed, meaning compensation owed for a loss, and that passed into Old French as 'damage', describing injury or harm done to a person or thing. English borrowed the noun and verb from French in the 1200s and 1300s, and 'damaging' is simply the English present participle, formed by adding -ing. The common spelling trap lies in the join: because the base word 'damage' ends in a silent 'e', that 'e' is dropped before -ing, so writers must resist the urge to keep it and write 'damageing'. Knowing that the verb stem is 'damag-' before the suffix helps fix the correct form in memory.

How the word is built

• damage (from Latin damnum: loss, harm)
• -ing (present participle / adjective suffix)