What does condemn mean?
To condemn is to judge something or someone harshly and say so — usually publicly and with finality. It covers two broad kinds of judgment: moral condemnation, where a person or institution denounces an act as wrong or unacceptable, and official condemnation, where an authority sentences a person to punishment or declares property unsafe. A government may condemn an act of violence; a court may condemn a criminal to prison; an inspector may condemn a crumbling bridge. The word is firmly formal and carries strong negative weight: to condemn is never neutral praise but outright censure. It also has a passive sense, where people are said to be 'condemned' to some unpleasant fate they cannot escape. Derived from the Latin damnare, meaning to inflict harm or loss upon someone through judgment, condemn entered English via Old French and has carried this sense of authoritative, damaging judgment ever since. Its noun form, condemnation, names both the act of condemning and the resulting verdict.
verbTo express strong disapproval of something or someone, especially publicly; to sentence someone to a punishment, or declare something unfit for use.
- To express complete disapproval of something or someone, typically in public or on moral grounds.
- To sentence someone to a particular punishment, especially death.
- To officially declare a building, food, etc. unsafe or unfit for use and order it destroyed or taken out of service.
- (Passive) To force or doom someone to endure something unpleasant or undesirable.
"The council condemned the building after the fire inspectors found serious structural faults."
"World leaders were quick to condemn the attack as a violation of international law."
"The old pier was condemned by safety officials and closed to the public indefinitely."
"Condemn" carries the Latin word for "harm" in its very bones — when you condemn something, you are literally pronouncing it damaged.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of condemn
Condemn comes from the Latin condem(n)are, formed from com- ('together') plus damnare ('to inflict loss or harm upon judgment'), which itself derives from damnum, meaning damage or loss. It reached English through Old French condemner around the late medieval period, appearing in English texts by roughly the fourteenth century. It shares its root with words such as damn, damage, indemnify, and damnation, all ultimately tracing back to that same notion of loss inflicted under judgment.
Related word forms
How condemn is actually used
Formal in register; strongly negative in connotation. In legal contexts it implies an authoritative verdict, not merely personal opinion. The passive sense ('was condemned to a life of poverty') often appears in literary writing.
Easily confused with condemn
Contemn means to treat with contempt or scorn, while condemn means to express strong disapproval or pronounce judgment against.
Damn is the broader verb of passing adverse judgment (often as an expletive), whereas condemn is the formal word for expressing censure or sentencing.