dauntless
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dauntless
Explanation
A dauntless person is someone who isn't easily frightened or intimidated. If your dance moves bring to mind a marionette being jerked around by a five-year-old but you jump on the dance floor anyway, you could be considered dauntless. The adjective dauntless is a variant of the noun daunt, which means "to intimidate or cause fear." Both words are related to another family of "D" words — dominate, domestic, domain. They all go back to the Latin root domare, which means "to tame." If you're dauntless, it means you're like a tiger or a wild horse — you can't be dominated or tamed.
Vocabulary lists containing dauntless
Power Suffix: -less
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"The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act III
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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.
Then came a new refrain, determined and dauntless: “Pali strong!”
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2025
When did I become this woman, her hand forever on her womb like some dauntless sister wife on the plains?”
From Seattle Times • Jul. 4, 2023
Until now, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” has largely presented Midge’s arc as a dauntless upward climb.
From New York Times • Apr. 11, 2023
They hoped the plucky, dauntless McAuliffe would serve as a nostalgic link to the early days of the space program, when celebrity astronauts such as Neil Armstrong and John Glenn were viewed as beloved pioneers.
From Washington Post • Jun. 18, 2021
I became dauntless and free of fears, intoxicated by the physical fact of San Francisco.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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.
