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damage

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Injury or harm.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

damuhj

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdæmədʒ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Injury or harm; the condition or measure of something not being intact.

  2. Any harm or injury resulting from a violation of a legal right

  3. slang

    Cost or expense.

verb

  1. transitive

    To remove a damaged or unsalable item from the sales floor for processing.

  2. transitive

    To impair the soundness, goodness, or value of; to harm or cause destruction.

  3. Inflict damage upon

  4. Suffer or be susceptible to damage

    “These fine china cups damage easily.”

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Injury or harm; the condition or measure of something not being intact.

Used this way, damage is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Serious and weighty
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use damage

  • “These fine china cups damage easily.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

brain damagedna damagedamage causedproperty damageserious damagetissue damagecause damagegreat damage

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • damagesnounPlural form

    A sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury.

  • damagedadjectiveInflected form

    Harmed or injured or spoiled.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • damage controlnounCompound term

    An effort to minimize or curtail damage or loss.

  • compensatory damagesnounCompound term

    Compensation for losses that can readily be proven to have occurred and for which the injured party has the right to be compensated.

  • actual damagesnounCompound term

    Compensation for losses that can readily be proven to have occurred and for which the injured party has the right to be compensated.

  • exemplary damagesnounCompound term

    Compensation in excess of actual damages (a form of punishment awarded in cases of malicious or willful misconduct).

  • general damagesnounCompound term

    Compensation for losses that can readily be proven to have occurred and for which the injured party has the right to be compensated.

  • minimal brain damagenounCompound term

    A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: injury or harm

hurt

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.