daredevil
Americannoun
-
daredevils
plural
adjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of daredevil
Explanation
Do you love the thrill of a terrifying rollercoaster or the risky challenge of doing dangerous tricks on your skateboard? Then you're a daredevil, someone who is recklessly adventurous. A daredevil loves adventure and excitement and tends not to think much about the safety or wisdom of their actions. The man who walked on a wire between the towers of the World Trade Center was a daredevil, and the woman who was the first to ride a barrel over Niagara Falls was also a daredevil. This word is also used as another name for a stunt performer who attempts risky tricks in front of a live audience.
Vocabulary lists containing daredevil
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Donald Campbell's restored Bluebird craft has been fired up on Coniston Water for the first time since the daredevil pilot's fatal crash on the lake almost 60 years ago.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
“Dragon Mama” offers snapshots of Maria’s daredevil youth in Hawaii, her reckless adolescence in Bremerton, Wash., and the self-destructive spiral that leads her to venture out on her own.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
A tanker belonging to daredevil Greek shipowner George Prokopiou is among the few Western ships to have sailed out through the passage since the war began, according to data firm Kpler.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-storey tower to watch Alex Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix.
From Barron's ● Jan. 25, 2026
Or I was a skydiving, drag-racing, adrenaline-fueled daredevil.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
Ten men suffered injuries Tuesday during the eighth and final bull run of Spain's famed San Fermin festival, bringing to 57 the total number of daredevils injured during this year's fiesta.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
Hollywood was founded by daredevils, from the cowboys who galloped here to become stuntmen, to the small-town girls who bucked the pressure to get married and moved west to chase a one-in-a-million dream.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
The magician Ricky Jay’s compendium of actual “unique, eccentric and amazing entertainers” offers a parade of con artists, charlatans, escapologists, daredevils, mesmerists, contortionists and sideshow acts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
It was a white-knuckle, high-wire business fit only for daredevils.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025
In his art he made, to delight his ear and his mind’s eye, voluble daredevils who “go romancing through a romping lifetime ... to the dawning of the Judgment Day.”
From Per Amica Silentia Lunae by W. B. (William Butler) Yeats
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
