[dam] 
| 1. | to declare (something) to be bad, unfit, invalid, or illegal. |
| 2. | to condemn as a failure: to damn a play. |
| 3. | to bring condemnation upon; ruin. |
| 4. | to doom to eternal punishment or condemn to hell. |
| 5. | to swear at or curse, using the word “damn”: Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead! |
| 6. | to use the word “damn”; swear. |
| 7. | (used as an expletive to express anger, annoyance, disgust, etc.) |
| 8. | the utterance of “damn” in swearing or for emphasis. |
| 9. | something of negligible value: not worth a damn. |
| 10. | damned (defs. 2, 3). |
| 11. | damned. |
| 12. | damn well, Informal. damned (def. 7). |
| 13. | damn with faint praise, to praise so moderately as, in effect, to condemn: The critic damned the opera with faint praise when he termed the production adequate. |
| 14. | give a damn, Informal. to care; be concerned; consider as important: You shouldn't give a damn about their opinions. Also, give a darn. |
To criticize someone or something indirectly by giving a slight compliment: “When the critic remarked that Miller's book was ‘not as bad as some I've read,’ she was obviously damning it with faint praise.”
damn with faint praise
Compliment so feebly that it amounts to no compliment at all, or even implies condemnation. For example, The reviewer damned the singer with faint praise, admiring her dress but not mentioning her voice. This idea was already expressed in Roman times by Favorinus (c. a.d. 110) but the actual expression comes from Alexander Pope's Epistle to Doctor Arbuthnot (1733): "Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, and, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer."