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Human history teems with dauntless people, doughty folks who refused to be cowed or subdued, even if armed with nothing but the courage of their convictions. The existence of dauntless raises this question: can one be full of daunt? Not anymore—the noun daunt, meaning “discouragement” or “intimidation,” has been obsolete for centuries, though dauntless remains as a clue to its past use. But daunt is (and has been since the 14th century) a verb; we define it as “to lessen the courage of; to cow or subdue.” Introduced via Anglo-French, its ultimate source lies in the Latin verb domare, meaning “to tame” or “to subdue.” The idea of being subdued persists in today’s daunt, but the idea of being tamed was formerly present too: until at least the 16th century, horses trained to behave in ways useful to humans—that is, horses that were broken—could be said to be “daunted.” 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” as well as “dauntless.”
Examples of dauntless in a Sentence
Vogue, 6 Jan. 2025
The legacy of Susan and Mindy through this film, their dauntless self-determination and inspired leap of faith continues to burn brightly as a beacon of intent and purpose.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 28 Feb. 2025
On Sunday, January 5, the Golden Globe Awards returned to the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, with comedian Nikki Glaser serving as the evening’s dauntless host.
—Vogue, 6 Jan. 2025
Anyone can give us a new rendition of Dracula, but only the most dauntless artist would attempt their own interpretation of such a totemic version of Stoker’s creation.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 24 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Dauntless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dauntless. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
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