to give a damn
- phrasal verb
- /ɡɪv ə dæm/
- NSFW
- Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
- just give a damn
It's like excellence and not giving a damn combined.
- It's like excellence and not giving a damn combined.
- Never ever do we give a damn one way or the other.
- And the guy said to him, I don't give a damn what anyone else is doing.
- But I promise you this, I don't give a damn what happens to those narcissists.
- Nature clearly doesn't give a damn what physicists think is pretty math.
- Wired don't give a damn about blue collar workers.
- Some of you may not give a damn what other people think, which is great.
- His heart and his soul doesn't give a damn about the comments.
- I'm speaking about the man who doesn't give a damn what it is.
- Well, one realizing nobody gives a damn about us.
- You reach this point where this is me and I don't give a damn if you think I'm crazy.
- And just having him there to bounce things off of, you know, 'cause I don't, I don't give a damn what position you're in.
- And meanwhile, Democrats want to know that people give a damn.
- They say out of my league, but I don't give a damn.
- Joe Rogan, he doesn't read comments, but not just that, he doesn't give a damn.
Examples
-
I don't give a damn about the rules; I do what I want.
-
But I don't give a damn if you hate me.
Academic text (2009) -
Never ever do we give a damn one way or the other.
-
No one gives a damn about your kids title.
-
You give a damn about us anymore?
-
So now I have this huge gap in my understanding, and nobody gives a damn.
Fiction book (1992) -
It's like excellence and not giving a damn combined.
-
You're the only one who gives a damn.
-
In fact, I shouldn't give a damn about what you think of me.
Academic text (2007) -
And frankly, I don't give a damn whether you believe me or not.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
To not care at all about something
To care at all about something
To not care at all about something
To not care at all about something
To say in rude language that someone does not care at all
To not care at all about something, usually in negative sentences
To feel no interest or worry at all about something
To say you do not care at all, often to show you actually do care
To not care at all about something, used only in negative sentences
To not mind something at all
To feel no interest or concern about something
Not care at all about something
Antonyms
How Concerned
- NSFW
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
give + a + damn
The meaning 'to care (or not) about something' follows from the construction 'give [something]' in the sense of 'show or give (a feeling)' combined with 'a damn' used as a slang noun for 'any concern', so a learner could partially infer that 'not give a damn' means 'not care'. However, 'damn' here is slang/idiomatic and the noun sense 'a damn' = 'any concern' is not fully predictable from the literal word meanings, so the expression is only partly transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The idiom give a damn comes from the old idea that a damn was like a tiny thing you could give. If you would not give a damn, you did not give even a little care, so today it means 'not to care at all'.