condemned

American  

[kuhn-demd] / kənˈdɛmd /

adjective

1. pronounced guilty; sentenced to punishment, especially capital punishment.

   A condemned man has the right to know how the execution will proceed.

2. deemed or declared unfit for use or service.

   One of the condemned buildings is going to be demolished to make room for luxury apartments.

3. viewed or spoken of with strong disapproval; judged as wrong or unacceptable, often formally.

   Apartheid, by universal agreement, is an inhumane, unjust, and condemned practice.

4. doomed to eternal punishment in hell; damned.

   At the Last Judgment, condemned sinners will offer excuses in vain.

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noun

1. Usually the condemned

   1. the person or persons pronounced guilty in a court of law and sentenced to punishment, especially capital punishment.

      We join in prayer for the condemned, his victim, and their families.

   2. the damned.

      The condemned are those who are full of themselves and laugh at their unrighteousness.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of condemn.

Other Word Forms

• self-condemned adjective
• uncondemned adjective

Etymology

Origin of condemned

condemn ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Instead of taking a stance of trollish defiance, they condemned the president.

From Slate • Apr. 15, 2026

Abolitionists condemned slavery as incompatible with the belief that all people are children of God.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

Hezbollah, for its turn, condemned the attacks, adding in a statement that it had the “natural and legal right to resist occupation and respond to its attacks.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026

The two charities, Caritas‑Lebanon and L'Oeuvre d'Orient condemned the cancellation as a violation of international humanitarian law, particularly as it affected vulnerable civilians trapped in their villages.

From Barron's • Apr. 5, 2026

Within a year, Mia had sent Anita another set of prints—each chronicling something’s slow decay: a dead cottonwood, a condemned house, a rusting car—that she was ready to take on.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Related Words

• convicted