damnedest
- adverb
- /ˈdæm.dɪst/
- NSFW
- He did his damnedest to impress the judges at the talent show.
Examples
-
I'll try my damnedest to finish the project by the deadline.
-
I'LL DO MY DAMNEDEST.
-
She gave it her damnedest to win the championship this year.
Synonyms
Shows that something is very strong or important
To show strong feeling or degree
Said to make something sound very strong
To emphasize something, like saying very
A word people use to mean very
Put before a word to show mild annoyance or strong feeling
Adds emphasis to say something is very strong
To a very high degree
Very extreme and surprising that people use to show strong feeling
Very surprising and impressive and said in a rude way
Used to show that something is the most complete or extreme example
Used before a word to show mild anger or surprise
To try very hard to do something
Idioms
How Intense
Surface Forms
Morphology
damnedest = damned (transparent) = damn + ed + est
The use as an intensifying degree ('extremely') follows directly from the adjectival intensifier 'damned' with superlative marking.
Etymology
Damnedest as an adverb is used like a very strong 'very'. It comes from damn ('to blame') and the ending -est works like in best, so damnedest is a way to say 'extremely'.