What does dratted mean?
Dratted is an informal adjective used to express mild annoyance or frustration, functioning as a gentler stand-in for stronger expletives such as 'damned' or 'confounded'. A speaker might complain about a 'dratted computer' or 'dratted rain', conveying irritation with a light, often humorous touch rather than genuine anger. The word is chiefly British and carries a slightly old-fashioned, genteel flavour, recalling the era when explicit oaths were considered improper in polite company. It appears almost exclusively directly before the noun it modifies and is rarely used predicatively. Though less common among younger speakers today, it survives in fiction, comedy, and everyday British speech as a way to vent minor vexation without causing offence, making it a useful marker of both register and personality.
adjectiveUsed to express mild irritation or annoyance; a euphemistic substitute for 'damned' or 'confounded'. It is an informal, mildly old-fashioned intensifier placed before nouns.
- Used as a premodifying adjective to express exasperation at a person, thing, or situation; a euphemism for 'damned'.
"The dratted cat has knocked my coffee over again."
"I can't get this dratted printer to work."
"Those dratted pigeons have made a mess of my balcony again."
It's what polite Victorians said when they couldn't say 'damn' — a swear word wearing its Sunday best.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dratted
Dratted derives from the interjection 'drat', a minced oath used to express annoyance, which arose in nineteenth-century English as an alteration or euphemistic shortening of expressions invoking God's wrath, such as 'God rot'. The form 'dratted' developed as a participial-style adjective modelled on parallel formations like 'blasted' or 'blessed', allowing the exclamation to be attached to nouns. Its close relatives are other euphemistic oaths rather than words from a deeper shared root.
Related word forms
How dratted is actually used
Informal and somewhat dated in tone, 'dratted' carries a comic, genteel quality of exasperation rather than real anger. It is far more characteristic of British English than American English, and it appears almost exclusively before nouns.
Easily confused with dratted
'Drafted' is the past tense of the verb 'to draft' (to draw up a document or select someone for service), while 'dratted' is an adjective expressing annoyance.