Daunt

//dɔnt// name, verb

name, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To discourage, intimidate. transitive

    "[The English] valiantly, and with the ſlaughter of many, put backe the enemy: which was ſo farre from daunting the Normans, that by it they were more whetted to re-enforce themſelues vpon them[…]"

  2. 2
    cause to lose courage; to be daunted; to be scared away wordnet
  3. 3
    To overwhelm. transitive
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Middle English.

Synonyms

All synonyms
dismayabashadmonishalarmappallawe

Antonyms

All antonyms
incite

Example

More examples

""Nor in my madness kept my purpose low, / but vowed, if e'er should happier chance invite, / and bring me home a conqueror, even so / my comrade's death with vengeance to requite. / My words aroused his wrath; thence evil's earliest blight. / Thenceforth Ulysses sought with slanderous tongue / to daunt me, scattering in the people's ear / dark hints, and looked for partners of his wrong; / nor rested, till with Calchas' aid, the seer...""

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, donter (“to tame”), from Latin domitō (“tame”, verb), frequentative of Latin domō (“tame, conquer”, verb), from Proto-Italic *domaō, from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (“to domesticate, tame”). Doublet of dompt.

Etymology 2

From Middle English daunten (“to subdue, intimidate”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.