Damning

How to spell damning

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce damning

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does damning mean?

1. adjectiveStrongly suggesting or proving guilt, fault, or serious wrongdoing.

Damning in a sentence

• The auditor uncovered damning evidence of fraud in the accounts.

• The report was a damning assessment of the company's safety record.

Where does damning come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin verb damnare, which meant 'to condemn, to inflict a penalty on, or to cause loss', built on the noun damnum meaning 'damage, harm, or financial loss'. It travelled into English through Old French damner during the 1200s, at first carrying a strongly religious sense of condemning a soul to eternal punishment. The silent letter that traps so many writers, the 'n' before the final 'm' in 'damn', is a fossil of that Latin damnare: English kept the spelling even after speakers stopped pronouncing the consonant. The same damnum root still survives in the everyday word 'damage' and in 'condemn' and 'indemnity'. The adjective 'damning' developed the practical modern meaning of evidence or testimony that proves someone guilty or thoroughly discredits them.

How the word is built

• damn (from Latin damnare: to condemn, inflict loss)
• -ing (adjective/participle suffix)