Definition of DAUNTLESSNESS

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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

The exhibition convincingly illustrates her exceptional sensibility, dauntless exploration of techniques, consummate skill as a printer, and willingness to tackle the complexities of life and death. — Vicki Goldberg, New York Times, "Sally Mann’s Haunted South," 29 Mar. 2018 Come to thine own anointed throng, Stalking with Liberty along, And chaunt thy dauntless slogan song, Maryland! — Doug Donovan, baltimoresun.com, "The debate over Maryland's state song is a familiar refrain," 15 Mar. 2018 Instead, at ferocious speeds and with dauntless control, there was anger, brutality and violence, on the way to an almost lonely, unwelcome death. — Zachary Lewis, cleveland.com, "Cleveland Orchestra elicits glowing reviews on tour in New York, Miami," 5 Feb. 2018 So the optimism of Inventing Tomorrow is quite uplifting, with dauntless teenage thinkers from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds working with resourcefulness and imagination to develop practical solutions to local eco threats. — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Inventing Tomorrow': Film Review | Sundance 2018," 24 Jan. 2018 Played with daunting, dauntless precision by Saoirse Ronan (already, at 23, one of the most formidable actors in movies today), Lady Bird can give herself and everyone around her a hard time. — A.o. Scott, New York Times, "Review: Greta Gerwig’s ‘Lady Bird’ Is Big-Screen Perfection," 31 Oct. 2017 Science shows us that rat moms are inventive, dauntless, resourceful—essential ingredients for creativity. — Rosa Inocencio Smith, The Atlantic, "The Atlantic Daily: Making the Case," 13 Sep. 2017 As Steven Erlanger reports for The New York Times, Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced plans to erect a likeness of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, a dauntless women's suffrage leader, in the historic square. — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, "London’s Parliament Square Will Get Its First Statue of a Woman," 4 Apr. 2017 Now that the reckoning has arrived, which director would be dauntless enough for the task? — James Wolcott, HWD, "Trump: The Movie, Coming Soon to a Theater Near You (if Theaters Still Exist)," 19 June 2017

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.