damages

UK/ˈdæmɪd͡ʒɪz/US/ˈdæmɪd͡ʒɪz/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,149 of 15,258leans written

Damages are the money paid to make up for harm done. Award damages, claim damages, punitive damages.

The plural is the legal term and it is a different thing from damage: damage is the harm and damages are the payment for it. The usual aim is to put the claimant back where they would have been, which is why most damages are compensatory. Punitive or exemplary damages punish instead, and are rare in Britain. Note nominal damages, a token sum awarded when a right was breached but nothing was lost.

Definitions of damages

1noundamagesMoney paid to make up for harm done.B2
“The newspaper had to pay damages to the actor for printing lies about him.”

damages is compensation.

Practised in Crime & Law

Practise this word

damages in the wild

To be recognized at law, the loss must involve damage to property, or mental or physical injury; pure economic loss is rarely recognized for the award of damages.
Damages
The elements of a negligence claim include the duty to act or refrain from action, breach of that duty, actual and proximate cause of harm, and damages.
Negligence
Someone who suffers loss caused by another's negligence may be able to sue for damages to compensate for their harm.
Negligence
Such orders are granted when damages are not an adequate remedy and in some specific cases such as land (which is regarded as unique).
Specific performance
After The Florida Star newspaper revealed the full name of a rape victim it got from a police report, the victim sued for damages.
Florida Star v. B. J. F.

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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