intrepid
adjective
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Don't Be Afraid to Learn About Intrepid
If you’re going to name a ship, whether an aircraft carrier or an interstellar starship, you could do worse than to name it the Intrepid, as both the United States military and Star Trek writers have done, respectively. (Technically “Intrepid” is a class of Trek ships that includes the Voyager, etc., but you get the drift.) Intrepid, after all, comes from the Latin word intrepidus, itself formed by the combination of the prefix in-, meaning “not,” and the adjective trepidus, meaning “alarmed.” When not designating sea or space vessels, intrepid aptly describes anyone—from explorers to reporters—who ventures bravely into unknown territory, though often you’ll see the word loaded with irony, as in “an intrepid couch surfer endeavored to watch every installment of the beloved sci-fi series in chronological order.” Intrepid word lovers may be interested to know of the existence of trepid, meaning “fearful”; it predates intrepid but most are too trepid (or simply unaware of its existence) to use it.
Examples of intrepid in a Sentence
Jonathan Chait, New York Times Book Review, 3 Feb. 2008
Author and explorer Dame Freya Stark was one of the most intrepid adventurers of all time. (T. E. Lawrence, no slouch in the travel department himself, called her "gallant" and "remarkable.")
—Kimberly Robinson, Travel & Leisure, December 1999
Meanwhile, the intrepid Florentine traveler Marco Polo had been to China and brought back with him a noodle dish that became Italian pasta …
—Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages, 1993
an intrepid explorer who probed parts of the rain forest never previously attempted
Chloe Berge, Outside Online, 17 June 2025
Any intrepid shopper should keep an eye out for Prime Day Vitamix deals.
—Brittany Romano, Bon Appetit Magazine, 16 June 2025
The local Turkish diaspora and intrepid diners are already discovering the charms of Bosforo, a gracious new restaurant that recently opened in Normal Heights in the corner space that previously housed El Zarape.
—Candice Woo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 June 2025
While the landmass is a quarter in size of the state of Delaware, the island’s population swells from 10,000 to 650,000 each year to welcome intrepid travelers drawn to the island’s dramatic landscapes, storied history, and rich cultural heritage.
—Sarah Wood González, Vogue, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for intrepid
Cite this Entry
“Intrepid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intrepid. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.
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intrepid
adjective
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