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].[114]
Antonyms:
| absolve, | applaud, | exonerate, | pardon, |
| acquit, | approve, | justify, | praise. |
Prepositions:
The bandit was condemned to death for his crime.