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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dam.

A structure placed across a flowing body of water to stop the flow or part of the flow, generally for purposes such as retaining or diverting some of the water or retarding the release of accumulated water to avoid abrupt flooding.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈdæm/Received-Pronunciation[ˈdæm] ~ [ˈdam]Received-Pronunciation/ˈdam/British, Midlands, Southern, Standard[ˈdam]British, Midlands, Southern, Standard
  1. A structure placed across a flowing body of water to stop the flow or part of the flow, generally for purposes such as retaining or diverting some of the water or retarding the release of accumulated water to avoid abrupt flooding.

    A dam is often an essential source of water to farmers of hilly country.
  2. The water reservoir resulting from placing such a structure.

    Boats may only be used at places set aside for boating on the dam.
  3. A device to prevent a tooth from getting wet during dental work, consisting of a rubber sheet held with a band.

  4. A reservoir.

    Australia · South-Africa
  5. A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English dam, from Old English *damm, from Proto-West Germanic *damm, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.

verb/ˈdæm/Received-Pronunciation[ˈdæm] ~ [ˈdam]Received-Pronunciation/ˈdam/British, Midlands, Southern, Standard[ˈdam]British, Midlands, Southern, Standard
  1. To block the flow of water.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English dam, from Old English *damm, from Proto-West Germanic *damm, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.

noun/ˈdæm/Received-Pronunciation[ˈdæm] ~ [ˈdam]Received-Pronunciation/ˈdam/British, Midlands, Southern, Standard[ˈdam]British, Midlands, Southern, Standard
  1. Female parent, mother, generally regarding breeding of animals.

  2. A kind of crowned piece in the game of draughts.

Where this word comes from

Variant of dame. Doublet of domina and donna.

noun/ˈdæm/Received-Pronunciation[ˈdæm] ~ [ˈdam]Received-Pronunciation/ˈdam/British, Midlands, Southern, Standard[ˈdam]British, Midlands, Southern, Standard
  1. An obsolete Indian copper coin, equal to a fortieth of a rupee.

    India · historical
  2. A former coin of Nepal, 128 of which were worth one mohar.

    historical
Where this word comes from

From Hindi दाम (dām), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀤𑀫𑁆𑀫 (damma, “coin”), from Sanskrit द्रम्म (drammá), from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ). Doublet of drachm, drachma, and dram. Alternatively said to be possibly coined from the English phrase "I don't give a dam(n)," referring to its small worth.

intj/ˈdæm/Received-Pronunciation[ˈdæm] ~ [ˈdam]Received-Pronunciation/ˈdam/British, Midlands, Southern, Standard[ˈdam]British, Midlands, Southern, Standard
  1. Damn.

    historical · pronunciation-spelling · slang
Where this word comes from

Pronunciation spelling of damn.

adj/ˈdæm/Received-Pronunciation[ˈdæm] ~ [ˈdam]Received-Pronunciation/ˈdam/British, Midlands, Southern, Standard[ˈdam]British, Midlands, Southern, Standard
  1. Damn.

    historical · not-comparable · pronunciation-spelling · slang
Where this word comes from

Pronunciation spelling of damn.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.