undaunted

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + daunt + -ed,^[2][3][4][5] and the Middle English Dictionary derives it from daunted, the past participle of daunten.^[6] The verb is from Old French danter, a variant of donter, now dompter, from Latin domitō, the frequentative of domō (“to tame”),^[2][3][7] which Etymonline connects with tame.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a horse, not broken in, untamed: 1422, in J. Yonge's translation of the Secreta Secretorum, where "Traiane his Sonne rode an hors vndauntdid".^[2][6] Etymonline dates it to the mid 15th century,^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 15th century,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1375–1425.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The first uses follow the older sense of the verb, to tame or subdue.^[3][2] From 1513, in G. Douglas's translation of the Aeneid, the word was transferred from horses to mean unbridled or unrestrained (to 1683) and unsubdued or unconquered (to 1547),^[2] and in Scots it meant undisciplined or disorderly (1533–50).^[2][9] The Middle English Dictionary also records it, tentatively, for a person not docile or not easily controlled.^[6][3] The modern sense, of people not discouraged or dismayed, appears in 1587, in G. Turberville's Tragicall Tales,^[2] and by the 1580s in Etymonline;^[3] since 1605 the word has also described courage or spirit itself.^[2] The Shorter Oxford, unlike the OED, dates that sense back to late Middle English.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as unsubdued by fear, quoting Shakespeare's Macbeth and Dryden.^[10]

Timeline

• 1422 – of a horse, not broken in, untamed (obsolete by 1560).^[2][6]
• 1513 – unbridled, unrestrained (obsolete by 1683); also unsubdued, unconquered (obsolete by 1547).^[2]
• 1533 – in Scots, undisciplined, disorderly (obsolete by 1550).^[2]
• 1587 – of people, not discouraged or dismayed.^[2]
• 1605 – of courage, spirit and the like.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not discouraged or intimidated by difficulty or danger; still resolute: Undaunted by the storm, the crew sailed on.^{[11][7][5][12]}
2. (obsolete, 1422–1560) Of a horse, not broken in; untamed.^[2][4]
3. (obsolete, 1513–1683) Unbridled, unrestrained.^[2][4]

Word family

• undauntedly
• undauntedness

Related words

• dauntless
• daunt
• tame
• indomitable

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press