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
A combination of a fast start, a couple of glitchy kicks from Jalibert, some doughty defence and a readiness to go toe-to-toe with Bordeaux for ambition bought them parity.
From BBC • May 24, 2025
None of these doughty Irish mams, abroad for the first time in their lives, display the slightest curiosity about their surroundings, or indeed anything beyond the horizons of their own tangled histories.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 14, 2023
His doughty performance, punctuated by that final dash to victory, spoke the loudest.
From Washington Post • Jan. 29, 2023
“You assume Moat Cailin will fall quickly, Snow,” objected Justin Massey, “but the ironmen are doughty fighters, and I’ve heard it said that the Moat has never been taken.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
