Condemn, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Condemned; p. pr. & vb. n. Condemning ( or ].
Etymology: [L. condemnare; con- + damnare to condemn: cf. F. condamner. See Damn.]
1. To pronounce to be wrong; to disapprove of; to censure. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it! Why, every fault's condemned ere it be done. Shak. Wilt thou condemn him that is most just Job xxxiv. 17.
2. To declare the guilt of; to make manifest the faults or unworthiness of; to convict of guilt. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it. Matt. xii. 42.
3. To pronounce a judicial sentence against; to sentence to punishment, suffering, or loss; to doom; -- with to before the penalty. Driven out from bliss, condemned In this abhorred deep to utter woe. Milton. To each his sufferings; all are men, Condemned alike to groan. Gray. And they shall condemn him to death. Matt. xx. 18. The thief condemned, in law already dead. Pope. No flocks that range the valley free, To slaughter I condemn. Goldsmith.
4. To amerce or fine; -- with in before the penalty. The king of Egypt . . . condemned the land in a hundred talents of silver. 2 Cron. xxxvi. 3.
4 more senses
5. To adjudge or pronounce to be unfit for use or service; to adjudge or pronounce to be forfeited; as, the ship and her cargo were condemned.
6. (Law)
To doom to be taken for public use, under the right of eminent domain.
Syn. -- To blame; censure; reprove; reproach; upbraid; reprobate; convict; doom; sentence; adjudge.
Shades of meaning
To condemn is to pass judicial sentence or render judgment or decision against. We may censure silently; we condemn ordinarily by open and formal utterance. Condemn is more final than blame or censure; a condemned criminal has had his trial; a condemned building can not stand; a condemned ship can not sail. A person is convicted when his guilt is made clearly manifest to others; in somewhat archaic use, a person is said to be convicted when guilt is brought clearly home to his own conscience (convict in this sense being allied with convince, which see under persuade); in legal usage one is said to be convicted only by the verdict of a jury. In stating the penalty of an offense, the legal word sentence is now more common than condemn; as, he was sentenced to imprisonment; but it is good usage to say, he was condemned to imprisonment. To denounce is to make public or official declaration against, especially in a violent and threatening manner.
From the pulpits in the northern States Burr was denounced as an assassin.
COFFIN Building the Nation ch. 10, p. 137. [H. '83.]
To doom is to condemn solemnly and consign to evil or destruction or to predetermine to an evil destiny; an inferior race in presence of a superior is doomed to subjugation or extinction. Compare arraign; reprove.
Prepositions
The bandit was condemned to death for his crime.