damner

Damner means to damn, in the strict religious sense of condemning a soul to hell. It survives mainly in two fixed figurative expressions: faire damner quelqu'un (to drive someone to distraction/exasperation) and à damner un saint (enough to make even a saint sin).

• Ses caprices constants finissent par damner ses parents. — His constant whims end up driving his parents to distraction.
• Cette odeur de pain frais est à damner un saint. — That smell of fresh bread is enough to tempt a saint.
• Le prêcheur menaçait de damner les pécheurs. — The preacher threatened to damn sinners.

Outside religious contexts, damner is almost always used in one of its two fixed idioms (faire damner, à damner un saint) — inventing a new figurative use of the bare verb sounds unnatural to native speakers.

• expression Faire damner quelqu'un — Common idiom meaning to exasperate or drive someone to the end of their patience, e.g. "ces enfants me feraient damner" (these kids would drive me up the wall).