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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.”
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Examples of dauntless in a Sentence
Caoimhe O'Neill, The Athletic, 24 July 2024
Secretariat and Sea Biscuit are still the stuff of four-hoofed legend, dauntless and heroic.
—Brian T. Allen, National Review, 12 Sep. 2024
So thank you for your sacrifices, your powerful voices, and your dauntless spirits.
—Dan Heching, CNN, 1 Apr. 2024
Whether exploring the town and browsing local shops or setting out on a cowboy adventure — a trip to Sheridan feels like a journey back in time to the dauntless days of the Wild West.
—Molly O’Brien, Travel + Leisure, 1 Mar. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Dauntless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dauntless. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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