condemn

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English condempnen, also condemnen and condampnen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French condemner, also condempner,^{[5][3][4][6][7]} and directly from Latin condemnō (“to sentence, convict, blame”).^[4][3][2] The Latin verb is formed from com-, here intensive,^[8][9][3][4] and damnō (“to cause loss to; to condemn”), from damnum (“loss, penalty”),^[8][3][9] the source of damn;^[10][4] the vowel of the verb was weakened from a to e in the compound.^[10] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the early 12th century, already meaning both to criticize and to find guilty or sentence.^[11] In French the verb settled into the form condamner, compare Italian condannare; that form was also frequent in English from the 14th to the 16th century, but Latin influence made condemn prevail.^[5] Old English used fordeman (“to foredoom”) in this sense.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To blame, to censure: in the Cursor Mundi, before 1325;^[3][5][4] the judicial sense, to give sentence against, follows in Rolle's Psalter before 1340.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The two oldest senses, to pronounce an adverse judgement on and to sentence in court, have both survived;^[5][12] from the late 14th century the verb was also used of witnesses and acts that bring about a conviction, as in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5][4][2] The phrase with the penalty, condemn to death, is recorded from the same Bible,^[5] and the religious sense, to doom to punishment in the world to come, from 1489.^[5][12] From 1653, in Walton's Compleat Angler, it was used figuratively of being doomed to some unkind fate.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave first "to find guilty; to doom to punishment", the opposite of absolve.^[13] The official senses came later: to declare a prize of war or smuggled goods forfeited (1705), to pronounce a ship or building unfit for use (1745), and, in the United States, to take land judicially for public use (1833).^[5][4]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to censure, blame, in the Cursor Mundi.^[3][5]
• before 1340 – to give judicial sentence against, convict.^[5]
• before 1382 – to bring about someone's conviction, condemn to a penalty.^[5]
• 1489 – to damn, doom to punishment after death.^[5]
• 1600 – to pronounce guilty of a crime or fault.^[5]
• 1653 – figurative, to doom to an unkind fate or condition.^[5]
• 1705 – to declare forfeited, as a prize of war.^[5][4]
• 1745 – to pronounce unfit for use.^[5][4]
• 1833 – United States, to take land for public use.^[5][4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To express strong disapproval of; to censure: The council condemned the attack on the mosque.
2. To pass judicial sentence on; to convict, especially with the penalty named: condemned to death.
3. To show the guilt of: Her nervous answers condemned her.
4. To declare officially unfit for use or for eating: The inspectors condemned the old bridge.
5. To force into an unpleasant state or way of life: His injury condemned him to a year of idleness.
6. (US, law) To take private land for public use.
7. To declare forfeited, as a prize of war or smuggled goods.

Word family

• condemnable
• condemner
• condemnatory
• condemnably
• condemningly
• precondemn
• recondemn

Related words

• condemnation
• damn
• damnation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.