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The history of the world is peopled with dauntless men and women who refused to be subdued or "tamed" by fear. The word dauntless can be traced back to Latin domare, meaning "to tame" or "to subdue." When our verb daunt (a domare descendant borrowed by way of Anglo-French) was first used in the 14th century, it shared these meanings. The now-obsolete "tame" sense referred to the taming or breaking of wild animals, particularly horses: an undaunted horse was an unbroken horse. Not until the late 16th century did we use undaunted with the meaning "undiscouraged and courageously resolute" to describe people. By then, such lionhearted souls could also be described as undauntable, and finally, in Henry VI, Part 3, Shakespeare gave us dauntless.

Examples of dauntless in a Sentence

dauntless heroes who are inclined to rush to danger, not away from it

Recent Examples on the Web This sensitive, dauntless, cinematic deep dive promises insight and inspiration. — Laura Manske, Forbes, 4 June 2021 Michelangelo, whose dauntless achievements Steinberg returned to again and again, is the subject of the first two volumes. — Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 27 Apr. 2021 Tubbs effectively argues that each woman had a particular impact on her son, citing Alberta King’s commitment to community and social justice, Louise Little’s dauntless political activism, and Berdis Baldwin’s love of writing and poetry. — Barbara Spindel, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 Feb. 2021 Around the state’s restaurant industry, tales of despair are increasingly met with tales of hope: new foods, emerging brands, dauntless entrepreneurs. — Susan Dunne, courant.com, 22 Feb. 2021 The dynamic leadership, the inspiring example, and the dauntless courage of Sgt. — Drew Broach | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 7 Dec. 2020 The dynamic leadership, the inspiring example, and the dauntless courage of Sgt. — Drew Broach | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 7 Dec. 2020 Sierra portrayed Chano as a dedicated and dauntless cop who was emotionally invested in his work. — Nicole Acevedo, NBC News, 25 Jan. 2021 The dynamic leadership, the inspiring example, and the dauntless courage of Sgt. — Drew Broach | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 7 Dec. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dauntless.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.