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damnedest

 - 4 dictionary results

damned⋅est

[dam-dist] Informal.
–adjective
1. most amazing or extraordinary.
–noun
2. best; utmost: They did their damnedest to finish on time.

Origin:
1820–30; damned + -est 1

damned

[damd] adjective, superlative damned⋅est, damnd⋅est, noun, adverb
–adjective
1. condemned or doomed, esp. to eternal punishment: the wailing of damned souls.
2. detestable; loathsome: Get that damned dog out of here!
3. complete; absolute; utter: a damned nuisance; a damned fool.
4. Informal. extraordinary; amazing: It was the damnedest thing I'd ever seen.
–noun
5. the damned, those condemned to suffer eternal punishment.
–adverb
6. extremely; very; absolutely: a damned good singer; too damned lazy.
7. damned well, Informal. certainly or without doubt; emphatically: You damned well better say you're sorry! Also, damn well.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME dam(p)ned. See damn, -ed 2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To damnedest
damned   (dāmd)   
adj.   damned·er (dām'dər), damned·est (dām'dĭst)
  1. Condemned, especially to eternal punishment.

  2. Informal Deserving condemnation; detestable: this damned weather.

  3. Used as an intensive: a damned fool.

adv.   damneder, damnedest
Used as an intensive: a damned poor excuse.
n.  Souls doomed to eternal punishment.
There are many regional variants, mostly euphemisms, for damned, both as an oath and as a mild intensive. Southern exclamations and intensives tend to begin with dad-, a euphemism for "god"—hence dadblamed, dadblasted, dadburn, and dadgum. Dadgum can be combined with it in the interjection dadgummit. Another such euphemism is the better-known doggone, probably originally Southern but now widespread. Like dadgum, doggone is used as a mild intensive: "The best doggone deals in Alabama" (billboard in Montgomery). Doggone likewise appears in phrasal interjections: Doggonit, I dropped my hammer. A common Southern and South Midland variant of damned is durn, also euphemistic and relatively mild, as in this snatch of Baltimore dialogue: "If that's not just the weirdest durn thing I ever laid eyes on" (Anne Tyler).
damned·est   (dām'dĭst)   
adj.  Superlative of damned.
n.  All that is possible; the utmost: did my damnedest to deliver the term paper on time.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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