- present participle of daunt.
daunting
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Something daunting can scare you off. If you have a lot of studying to do, it may seem like a daunting task. Good news is you can get through it by working hard. Or weasel out of it by playing sick. Often used in the phrases “daunting prospect” and “daunting task,” daunting describes something that you are not looking forward to doing. Having to fill out complicated tax forms every year is a daunting task for many people. Once a daunting task is complete, you no longer describe it as daunting, but instead can call it a job well done, or at least another life experience survived.
Vocabulary lists containing daunting
The Alchemist
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 1
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Michelle Obama's final address as First Lady (2017)
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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.
"I said to him very seriously, I'm trying to write a new project and if I've got Oscars sitting on the shelf, think about how daunting that would be," Nolan says.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
I’d be willing to bet that this reframing will give you the confidence to apply to positions that may seem daunting right now.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
They would discuss how they, alongside Canada, were ramping up a daunting campaign to build tech and defense capabilities that wouldn’t be under American control.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
The part that I found most daunting was getting into the medicine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
At first glance, the conditions that govern sequences of tenses seem daunting.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
