"The abuses hurt people and they damage public confidence in the courts," Judge Kaye said yesterday.

It damages confidence in the fairness of public institutions.

Highly publicized cases where auditors gave in to clients have damaged confidence.

This often assures profits for a trader at the expense of his own client and can damage confidence in the markets.

But it is not likely to damage confidence in American stocks.

Government officials vowed to continue Japan's nuclear program, saying that while the accident had damaged public confidence, the basic technology was sound.

Of course, we have no intention of doing anything to damage confidence here.

We have damaged confidence in the European Union and in the eurozone.

The pre-eminent location for this type of holding used to be Panama, but its political tribulations have damaged confidence.

"This accident seriously damaged public confidence in nuclear safety."