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give a damn

idiom
variants: or less commonly care a damn

Definition of give a damn

: to care at all about someone or something —used in negative statements
  • He doesn't give a damn what people think about him.
  • Nobody gives a damn about us.
  • I don't want to hear about her problems. I just don't give a damn.
  • They don't seem to care a damn about their future.

Word by Word Definitions

give play

  1. : to make a present of

  2. : to grant or bestow by formal action

  3. : to accord or yield to another

  1. : capacity or tendency to yield to force or strain : flexibility

  2. : the ability of a material to bend or stretch

See the full definition of give
damn play

  1. : to condemn to a punishment or fate

  2. : to condemn vigorously and often irascibly for some real or fancied fault or defect

  3. : to condemn as a failure by public criticism

  1. : the utterance of the word damn as a curse

  2. : a minimum amount or degree (as of care or consideration) : the least bit

  1. : damned

See the full definition of damn

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