doughty
1 Americanadjective
noun
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
- doughtily adverb
- doughtiness noun
- undoughty adjective
Etymology
Origin of doughty
before 1000; Middle English; Old English dohtig worthy, equivalent to *doht worth (cognate with Old High German toht; dow, -th 1 ) + -ig -y 1; replacing Old English dyhtig, cognate with German tüchtig
Explanation
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."
Vocabulary lists containing doughty
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.
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
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
Though slow to quarrel, and for sport killing nothing that lived, they were doughty at bay, and at need could still handle arms.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" 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.
