Damnare

Damnare is a Latin verb meaning to condemn, sentence, or doom. It belongs to the first conjugation and has the principal parts damnō, damnāre, damnāvī, damnātus. In classical usage it expresses that someone or something is officially condemned to punishment or to a legal sentence. The verb can take a direct object in the accusative (for example, damnāre aliquem), and is commonly found in legal, political, and rhetorical texts. In the non-active voice it is rendered as damnāri, and its participles include damnātus (perfect passive) and damnāns (present active participle). A related noun is damnātiō, meaning condemnation or a sentence.

Etymology and derivatives: damnāre is a standard 1st-conjugation verb stemming from the Latin noun damnātiō and from the root damn- related to condemnation. The phrase damnātiō memoriae, “condemnation of memory,” is notable in Roman practice.

Usage and context: In Roman law and later, damnation could be formal punishment or moral censure. The Latin verb also appears in religious and philosophical contexts to describe moral judgment or doom.

See also: damnation, damnatio memoriae, Latin verbs, Roman law.