Other forms: condemned, condemning, condemns
To condemn something is to say out loud, in public, that it is wrong. A government condemns an attack within the hour; a head teacher condemns the bullying in a letter that goes home to every parent.
A court does something heavier with the word: a prisoner is condemned to death, condemned to ten years. An inspector condemns a building, and after that nobody may live in it. It also means trapping someone in a fate they cannot escape — an injury that condemned him to watch the season from the stands. The noun is condemnation, and the final n stays silent until you add an ending. The word to keep well away from it is condone, which means letting wrongdoing pass: condemn and condone sit at opposite ends of the same subject.
1verbcondemnTo say publicly and firmly that something is wrong.
“Leaders across Europe condemned the attack.”
2verbsentenceTo sentence someone to a punishment.
“The court condemned him to life imprisonment.”
3verbdeclareTo declare officially that a building is unsafe to be used.
“The old mill was condemned after the survey.”
4verbforceTo force someone into a bad situation they cannot escape.
“The injury condemned her to a season on the bench.”
Also accepted in games: denounce
Condemn came through Old French condamner from Latin condemnāre, built on damnāre, to harm or condemn, from damnum, damage or loss — the same damnum behind English damn. Arriving, it pushed out the native word for this, Middle English fordemen, which had come down from Old English.
Middle English
condempnen
English, today
condemn
Built from
From Middle English condempnen. From Middle English condempnen, from Old French condamner, from Latin condemnāre (“to sentence, condemn, blame”), from com- + damnāre (“to harm, condemn, damn”), from damnum (“damage, injury, loss”). Displaced native Middle English fordemen (from Old English fordeman (“condemn, sentence, doom”) > Modern English fordeem.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA