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damnify

[ dam-nuh-fahy ]
/ ˈdæm nəˌfaɪ /
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verb (used with object), dam·ni·fied, dam·ni·fy·ing.Law.
to cause loss or damage to.
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Origin of damnify

1505–15; <Middle French damnifier,Old French <Late Latin damnificāre, derivative of Latin damnific(us) harmful, equivalent to damn(um) damage + -ificus (see -i-, -fic); see -ify

OTHER WORDS FROM damnify

un·dam·ni·fied, adjective

Words nearby damnify

damnation, damnatory, damned, damnedest, damned if I do, damned if I don't, damnify, damning, damn straight, Damn the torpedoes, damn well, damn with faint praise
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use damnify in a sentence

  • In Haverhill, in 1708, young women were permitted to build pews, provided they did not "damnify the Stairway."

    Sabbath in Puritan New England|Alice Morse Earle

  • Alexander commanded his soldiers neither to damnify Pindarus, the poet, nor any of his family.

    Microcosmography|John Earle

  • We should damnify religion if we separated it from philosophy: we should ruin philosophy if we divorced it from religion.

    Thoughts on Life and Religion|Friedrich Max Mller

British Dictionary definitions for damnify

damnify
/ (ˈdæmnɪˌfaɪ) /
verb -fies, -fying or -fied (tr)
law to cause loss or damage to (a person); injure

Derived forms of damnify

damnification, noun

Word Origin for damnify

C16: from Old French damnifier, ultimately from Latin damnum harm, + facere to make
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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