damned by association
- idiom
- NSFW
:
maldito por asociación
- She resigned, fearing she would be damned by association with the disgraced company.
Examples
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Politicians often risk being damned by association when their allies are implicated in scandals.
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After the controversy, several employees felt damned by association despite having no direct involvement.
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He felt damned by association after his friend was arrested.
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Many politicians are damned by association with corrupt officials.
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After the controversy, several employees felt damned by association despite having no direct involvement.
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Politicians often risk being damned by association when their allies are implicated in scandals.
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She resigned, fearing she would be damned by association with the disgraced company.
Antonyms
How Rejected
Surface Forms
Morphology
damn + by + association
The meaning is directly compositional: 'damned' (condemned) + 'by' (because of/through) + 'association' (a connection), so the phrase literally means being condemned because of one’s connections. This construction mirrors common patterns like 'guilt by association' and is readily inferable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Damned by association comes from the image of being damned, meaning 'blamed', simply because of an association, like being pointed at for standing next to someone who did wrong. That's why it means being treated badly or blamed because of who you are connected to.