"tarnation" meaning in English

See tarnation in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /tɑɹˈneɪʃən/ [General-American] Forms: more tarnation [comparative], most tarnation [superlative]
Rhymes: -eɪʃən Etymology: From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn. Etymology templates: {{m|en|darnation}} darnation, {{m|en|tarnal}} tarnal, {{m|en|eternal}} eternal, {{m|en|darn}} darn Head templates: {{en-adj}} tarnation (comparative more tarnation, superlative most tarnation)
  1. Bothersome; devilish.
    Sense id: en-tarnation-en-adj-tVKGzVEQ
  2. Generic intensifier.
    Sense id: en-tarnation-en-adj-b97Pj82W

Adverb

IPA: /tɑɹˈneɪʃən/ [General-American] Forms: more tarnation [comparative], most tarnation [superlative]
Rhymes: -eɪʃən Etymology: From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn. Etymology templates: {{m|en|darnation}} darnation, {{m|en|tarnal}} tarnal, {{m|en|eternal}} eternal, {{m|en|darn}} darn Head templates: {{en-adv}} tarnation (comparative more tarnation, superlative most tarnation)
  1. Very; extremely.
    Sense id: en-tarnation-en-adv-ppMkn2zF

Interjection

IPA: /tɑɹˈneɪʃən/ [General-American]
Rhymes: -eɪʃən Etymology: From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn. Etymology templates: {{m|en|darnation}} darnation, {{m|en|tarnal}} tarnal, {{m|en|eternal}} eternal, {{m|en|darn}} darn Head templates: {{en-interj}} tarnation
  1. (archaic) Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc. Tags: archaic
    Sense id: en-tarnation-en-intj-9wxTqRKi

Noun

IPA: /tɑɹˈneɪʃən/ [General-American] Forms: tarnations [plural]
Rhymes: -eɪʃən Etymology: From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn. Etymology templates: {{m|en|darnation}} darnation, {{m|en|tarnal}} tarnal, {{m|en|eternal}} eternal, {{m|en|darn}} darn Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} tarnation (countable and uncountable, plural tarnations)
  1. (regional or archaic) The act or process of damnation or reprobation; hell. Tags: archaic, countable, regional, uncountable
    Sense id: en-tarnation-en-noun-JlfhFL-v Categories (other): Regional English
  2. (obsolete) Someone or something that causes trouble; troublemaker. Tags: countable, obsolete, uncountable
    Sense id: en-tarnation-en-noun-7Bcywpl-
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: what in tarnation

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for tarnation meaning in English (9.2kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "what in tarnation"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darnation"
      },
      "expansion": "darnation",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tarnal"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "eternal"
      },
      "expansion": "eternal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darn"
      },
      "expansion": "darn",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tarnations",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnation (countable and uncountable, plural tarnations)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Regional English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1901, Alien, Another Woman's Territory, page 311",
          "text": "I am Offul maazed. Wheer in tarnations es that theer plaguy girl?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1965, Benjamin Albert Botkin, A treasury of New England folklore: stories, ballads, and traditions",
          "text": "Them city fellers liked to died when they see me come in the office ! I says to 'em: \"Had a tarnation of a time finding this place.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989, Patrick D. Smith, The River is Home ; And, Angel City, page 45",
          "text": "\"Now who in tarnation is Uncle Jobe?\" asked Pa.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, John O'Connor, The Hound of the Baskervilles, page 13",
          "text": "Then where in tarnation is it?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "What in tarnation is going on?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The act or process of damnation or reprobation; hell."
      ],
      "id": "en-tarnation-en-noun-JlfhFL-v",
      "links": [
        [
          "regional",
          "regional#English"
        ],
        [
          "damnation",
          "damnation"
        ],
        [
          "reprobation",
          "reprobation"
        ],
        [
          "hell",
          "hell"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(regional or archaic) The act or process of damnation or reprobation; hell."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "countable",
        "regional",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Mark Lemon, Punch - Volumes 12-15, page 162",
          "text": "I would say more, but RADLEY's come up to tell me I must go and meet that tarnation BANCROFT.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1854, Ann Sophia Stephens, High Life in New York, page 70",
          "text": "I felt sort of odd all over, and I hadn't the least notion what could ail me; it warn't a very tedious feeling, though, but it seemed as if I was a dreaming yit, and all about that tarnation little Miss Miles.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1928 September, F. Ray Ritchie, “The Worm Turns”, in Boys' Life, volume 18, number 9, page 39",
          "text": "The year before that the young tarnations got up into the tower one night and hooked a rope onto the bell and stretched it across the campus into Professor Robert's barn.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone or something that causes trouble; troublemaker."
      ],
      "id": "en-tarnation-en-noun-7Bcywpl-",
      "links": [
        [
          "cause",
          "cause"
        ],
        [
          "trouble",
          "trouble"
        ],
        [
          "troublemaker",
          "troublemaker"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) Someone or something that causes trouble; troublemaker."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "obsolete",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tarnation"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darnation"
      },
      "expansion": "darnation",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tarnal"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "eternal"
      },
      "expansion": "eternal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darn"
      },
      "expansion": "darn",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tarnation",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, T. T. Flynn, Prodigal of Death: A Western Quintet, page 41",
          "text": "\"Tarnation! You all right?\" \"Hell, no, I ain't all right!\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Marlies Bugmann, Karl May, Winnetou III, page 338",
          "text": "“They contain the precise description of the place where the nuggets are hidden.” “Tarnation! Is that true?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Kady Cross, The Girl With The Iron Touch",
          "text": "“Tarnation,” Jasper murmured, his attention turning to the thing in the Aether bubble.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc."
      ],
      "id": "en-tarnation-en-intj-9wxTqRKi",
      "links": [
        [
          "anger",
          "anger#English"
        ],
        [
          "irritation",
          "irritation#English"
        ],
        [
          "disappointment",
          "disappointment#English"
        ],
        [
          "annoyance",
          "annoyance#English"
        ],
        [
          "contempt",
          "contempt#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tarnation"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darnation"
      },
      "expansion": "darnation",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tarnal"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "eternal"
      },
      "expansion": "eternal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darn"
      },
      "expansion": "darn",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more tarnation",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most tarnation",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tarnation (comparative more tarnation, superlative most tarnation)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1876, The Catholic Record - Volume 11, page 78",
          "text": "Now you go 'long back to the house, Marm Winthrop, and if riding 'longside of a popish priest don't speerit me into the bottomless pit, I'll be blamed if I don't go some day into his church and find out what all that tarnation lingo means.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1894, Macmillan's Magazine - Volume 70, page 343",
          "text": "It started over nothing, and would have come to nothing but for that tarnation liquor.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1921, Gilbert Guest, A Bridal Trip in a Prairie Schooner, page 128",
          "text": "Hello stranger, this is a fine fix you got into, getting a tarnation fever out in the Rockies, but my wife is the best hand at sick folks you ever see.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bothersome; devilish."
      ],
      "id": "en-tarnation-en-adj-tVKGzVEQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "Bothersome",
          "bothersome"
        ],
        [
          "devilish",
          "devilish"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1803, The Castle of the Pyrenees; Or, the Wanderer of the Alps.",
          "text": "Some time in the month o' August, I think it wur, I found myself in London wi'out a tarnation cent.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1838, The Old American Comic Almanac",
          "text": "My love the strongest, a tarnation sight.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1861, William Edmondstoune Aytoun, Norman Sinclair, page 213",
          "text": "I allow now, if I had asked you to loan me a handful of dollars, you might have looked as glum as a beaver in a trap ; but there's a tarnation difference between that and a civil question on the road.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Generic intensifier."
      ],
      "id": "en-tarnation-en-adj-b97Pj82W"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tarnation"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darnation"
      },
      "expansion": "darnation",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tarnal"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "eternal"
      },
      "expansion": "eternal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darn"
      },
      "expansion": "darn",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more tarnation",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most tarnation",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tarnation (comparative more tarnation, superlative most tarnation)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1855, John Diprose, Diprose's New Sixpenny Comic Song-Book, page 57",
          "text": "He was so tarnation black you couldn't see him except in the middle of the day.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1867, John Cordy Jeaffreson, A Book about Lawyers - Volume 2, page 242",
          "text": "Since Britannia ruled the waves, I guess it's a tarnation queer thing that she didn't rule 'em straighter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1883 -, John Thomas Dicks, Dicks' standard plays, page 48",
          "text": "Well, that's tarnation strange !",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Dennis M. Larsen -, Slick as a Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise, page 29",
          "text": "I know it is lonesome for you, but I will be with you again in time and then we can and will have a \"tarnation good time.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Very; extremely."
      ],
      "id": "en-tarnation-en-adv-ppMkn2zF",
      "links": [
        [
          "Very",
          "very"
        ],
        [
          "extremely",
          "extremely"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tarnation"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "what in tarnation"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darnation"
      },
      "expansion": "darnation",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tarnal"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "eternal"
      },
      "expansion": "eternal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darn"
      },
      "expansion": "darn",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tarnations",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnation (countable and uncountable, plural tarnations)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Regional English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1901, Alien, Another Woman's Territory, page 311",
          "text": "I am Offul maazed. Wheer in tarnations es that theer plaguy girl?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1965, Benjamin Albert Botkin, A treasury of New England folklore: stories, ballads, and traditions",
          "text": "Them city fellers liked to died when they see me come in the office ! I says to 'em: \"Had a tarnation of a time finding this place.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989, Patrick D. Smith, The River is Home ; And, Angel City, page 45",
          "text": "\"Now who in tarnation is Uncle Jobe?\" asked Pa.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, John O'Connor, The Hound of the Baskervilles, page 13",
          "text": "Then where in tarnation is it?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "What in tarnation is going on?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The act or process of damnation or reprobation; hell."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "regional",
          "regional#English"
        ],
        [
          "damnation",
          "damnation"
        ],
        [
          "reprobation",
          "reprobation"
        ],
        [
          "hell",
          "hell"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(regional or archaic) The act or process of damnation or reprobation; hell."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "countable",
        "regional",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Mark Lemon, Punch - Volumes 12-15, page 162",
          "text": "I would say more, but RADLEY's come up to tell me I must go and meet that tarnation BANCROFT.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1854, Ann Sophia Stephens, High Life in New York, page 70",
          "text": "I felt sort of odd all over, and I hadn't the least notion what could ail me; it warn't a very tedious feeling, though, but it seemed as if I was a dreaming yit, and all about that tarnation little Miss Miles.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1928 September, F. Ray Ritchie, “The Worm Turns”, in Boys' Life, volume 18, number 9, page 39",
          "text": "The year before that the young tarnations got up into the tower one night and hooked a rope onto the bell and stretched it across the campus into Professor Robert's barn.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone or something that causes trouble; troublemaker."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cause",
          "cause"
        ],
        [
          "trouble",
          "trouble"
        ],
        [
          "troublemaker",
          "troublemaker"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) Someone or something that causes trouble; troublemaker."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "obsolete",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tarnation"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darnation"
      },
      "expansion": "darnation",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tarnal"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "eternal"
      },
      "expansion": "eternal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darn"
      },
      "expansion": "darn",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tarnation",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, T. T. Flynn, Prodigal of Death: A Western Quintet, page 41",
          "text": "\"Tarnation! You all right?\" \"Hell, no, I ain't all right!\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Marlies Bugmann, Karl May, Winnetou III, page 338",
          "text": "“They contain the precise description of the place where the nuggets are hidden.” “Tarnation! Is that true?\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Kady Cross, The Girl With The Iron Touch",
          "text": "“Tarnation,” Jasper murmured, his attention turning to the thing in the Aether bubble.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "anger",
          "anger#English"
        ],
        [
          "irritation",
          "irritation#English"
        ],
        [
          "disappointment",
          "disappointment#English"
        ],
        [
          "annoyance",
          "annoyance#English"
        ],
        [
          "contempt",
          "contempt#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tarnation"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darnation"
      },
      "expansion": "darnation",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tarnal"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "eternal"
      },
      "expansion": "eternal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darn"
      },
      "expansion": "darn",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more tarnation",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most tarnation",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tarnation (comparative more tarnation, superlative most tarnation)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1876, The Catholic Record - Volume 11, page 78",
          "text": "Now you go 'long back to the house, Marm Winthrop, and if riding 'longside of a popish priest don't speerit me into the bottomless pit, I'll be blamed if I don't go some day into his church and find out what all that tarnation lingo means.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1894, Macmillan's Magazine - Volume 70, page 343",
          "text": "It started over nothing, and would have come to nothing but for that tarnation liquor.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1921, Gilbert Guest, A Bridal Trip in a Prairie Schooner, page 128",
          "text": "Hello stranger, this is a fine fix you got into, getting a tarnation fever out in the Rockies, but my wife is the best hand at sick folks you ever see.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bothersome; devilish."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Bothersome",
          "bothersome"
        ],
        [
          "devilish",
          "devilish"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1803, The Castle of the Pyrenees; Or, the Wanderer of the Alps.",
          "text": "Some time in the month o' August, I think it wur, I found myself in London wi'out a tarnation cent.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1838, The Old American Comic Almanac",
          "text": "My love the strongest, a tarnation sight.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1861, William Edmondstoune Aytoun, Norman Sinclair, page 213",
          "text": "I allow now, if I had asked you to loan me a handful of dollars, you might have looked as glum as a beaver in a trap ; but there's a tarnation difference between that and a civil question on the road.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Generic intensifier."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tarnation"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darnation"
      },
      "expansion": "darnation",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tarnal"
      },
      "expansion": "tarnal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "eternal"
      },
      "expansion": "eternal",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darn"
      },
      "expansion": "darn",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more tarnation",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most tarnation",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "tarnation (comparative more tarnation, superlative most tarnation)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1855, John Diprose, Diprose's New Sixpenny Comic Song-Book, page 57",
          "text": "He was so tarnation black you couldn't see him except in the middle of the day.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1867, John Cordy Jeaffreson, A Book about Lawyers - Volume 2, page 242",
          "text": "Since Britannia ruled the waves, I guess it's a tarnation queer thing that she didn't rule 'em straighter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1883 -, John Thomas Dicks, Dicks' standard plays, page 48",
          "text": "Well, that's tarnation strange !",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Dennis M. Larsen -, Slick as a Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise, page 29",
          "text": "I know it is lonesome for you, but I will be with you again in time and then we can and will have a \"tarnation good time.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Very; extremely."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Very",
          "very"
        ],
        [
          "extremely",
          "extremely"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tarnation"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.