darned

¹ American  

[dahrnd] / dɑrnd /

adjective

1. irritating; damned; confounded.

   Get that darned bicycle out of the driveway!

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adverb

1. very; extremely; remarkably.

   She's a darned good tennis player.

darned ² American  

[dahrnd] / dɑrnd /

adjective

1. (of a garment, especially a knitted one) mended by means of rows of stitches that cross each other.

   I can remember feeling embarrassed about having to wear darned socks to camp.

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verb

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

darned British  

/ dɑːnd /

adverb

1. (intensifier)

   this darned car won't start

   a darned good shot

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adjective

1. another word for damned damned

Other Word Forms

• undarned adjective
• well-darned adjective

Etymology

Origin of darned¹

First recorded in 1800–10; euphemism for damned, perhaps by construing dern “dark, dreary” (now obsolete) as an intensifier in phrases such as dern and dreary, dern and doleful

Origin of darned²

First recorded in 1600–10 for the verb, and in 1620–30 for the adjective

Example Sentences

The narrative backdrop is that after 32 years of who-coulda-thunk-it rampages, humankind is tired of dealing with the darned things.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 30, 2025

Yeah, I expect some hate mail for "Promethean," because it sounds so darned elitist and stupid all at once.

From Salon • Jan. 5, 2025

“It may be darned important that we have some ability to have those arms come here, rather than go somewhere else,” the State Department official concluded.

From Slate • Nov. 22, 2023

Shoot the darned puck, and stop pretending they’re the 1977 Montreal Canadiens, 1985 Edmonton Oilers or even the 2022 Colorado Avalanche.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 21, 2022

Something that felt like a big old wasp’s nest got all wadded up in my throat and darned if I didn’t bawl a little, too.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls