Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act of damning or the condition of being damned.
- interj. Used to express anger or annoyance.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Same as tarnal.
Wiktionary
- n. The act or process of damnation or reprobation; hell.
Etymologies
- tarn(al) + (damn)ation.
Examples
“Well how in tarnation am I supposed to know what monster is made of?”
“What in tarnation does a fella need these doggone infernal machines for?!?”
“Are You????? moaaahaahaaaaaa. and what the hell in tarnation does bastion, anyways,.”
“Where in tarnation are all the regular pizzerias and ice cream places in the 50’s??”
““Where in tarnation are all the regular pizzerias and ice cream places in the 50’s””
“Gay rights in Iran are at the center of this public "tarnation" campaign.”
“I hain't a swearin ':' tarnation 'hain't swearin', nor never wuz.”
“Get a clean shot so it dies on the spot without running all over tarnation with bullet holes all over it; gut it out right now and NOT in an hour or two; get the hide off it right now and prop the chest open to it cools off as quick as possible; got any snow around?”
“President Obama would like to know what in tarnation these young whippersnappers are doing with these doomaflotchies, Agence France-Presse reports:”
“Last night I jumped from the Skandi ROV1 to the Enterprise ROV1 to the CNN feed, trying to figure out what in tarnation I was looking at with this top hat containment dome maneuver.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tarnation’.
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Very Silly Words
A list of very silly sounding words, as well as words that are fun to say
badot, gardyloo, dingbat, gaffer, kine, haberdashery, forsooth, whey-faced, hoddypeak, brouhaha, widdershins, decemnovenarianize and 115 more...
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Euphemisms for Curses
dang, darn, heck, shucks, shoot, dad gummit, dad burn it, gol dingit, sheesh, jeez, tarnation, consarn it and 8 more...
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TEN DOLLAR WORDS
brouhaha, foofaraw, ruckus, slumgullion, snollygoster, slangwhanger, slugabed, hodgepodge, rapscallion, muckamuck, hornswoggle, sockdolager and 5 more...
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geezerease's list
Words that I think I'll want to say when I'm old and a host of others that my grandparents would say.
fiddle faddle, poppycock, tarnation, criminy, dangnabbitt, jinky, tritter my wig, horse feathers, cheese and crackers, criminetly, holy cats, for pete's sake
reesetee And yet I still haven't found my wallet. :-\ Jul 3, 2008
dontcry I think Hell could be described as a "vast and inexplicable place." The netherworld. Jul 3, 2008
asativum Well, actually, now that I think about it, arby, you're probably right. I was just leaping to conclusions from the usage I've heard. Jul 3, 2008
arby Interesting, Asativum! I always thought it was a euphemism for Hell.
tmyn Jul 3, 2008
dontcry I LOVE tarnation. It always makes me think of Yosemite Sam -- and he always makes me laugh! Jul 3, 2008
asativum Roughly a synonym for the world, or some equally vast and inexplicable place. Uses include "what in tarnation do you think you're up to" and "where in tarnation is my wallet?" Jul 3, 2008