before 1000; Middle English; Old English dohtig worthy, equivalent to *doht worth (cognate with Old High German toht; see dow, -th 1) + -ig -y 1; replacing Old English dyhtig, cognate with German tüchtig
Someone who's doughty is brave and determined, like a doughty knight who fearlessly rides off to slay a terrifying giant. At first glance, you might confuse doughty with doughy, but the two words are quite different in meaning. Doughy things are soft and squishy, like unbaked bread. A doughty person is valiant and steadfast — like a doughty explorer who braves wild jungles and piranha-infested rivers in order to find the ruins of an ancient city. The word is derived from a root that means "strong."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Young readers will cheer for the doughty girl, who braves the razored depths to haul the baby dragon to safety in this satisfying, sumptuously illustrated fable translated from the French by Alyson Waters.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025
He once recalled scoring nine goals in an 11-0 victory, an afternoon that somehow convinced his manager at the time that his future lay not as a prolific attacker, but as a doughty centre-half.
From BBC • Jun. 15, 2023
All of that adds — you might say operatically — welcome glamour to the otherwise doughty Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, which is in desperate need of renovation.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2023
His doughty performance, punctuated by that final dash to victory, spoke the loudest.
From Washington Post • Jan. 29, 2023
And some said that when the Riders came from Rohan each would bring behind him a halfling warrior, small maybe, but doughty.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
