Redoubtable
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A person who elicits respect. humorous, in-plural, often, sometimes
- 2 A person who elicits dread or fear; a formidable person. in-plural, often
"Had you sought the Lady's court yourself.— / Faced the redoubtables composing it, / Flattered this, threatened that man, bribed the other,— / Pleaded, by writ and word and deed, your cause,— / Conquered a footing inch by painful inch,— / And, after long years' struggle, pounced at last / On her for prize,—the right life had been lived."
- 1 Especially of a person.; Eliciting respect; awe-inspiring, imposing. humorous, sometimes
"The redoubtable New York Times has been called the “newspaper of record” of the United States."
- 2 Especially of a person.; Eliciting dread or fear; appalling, formidable.
"[I]t pleaſed the grekes at that tyme to ſe yͤ body of Hector ſo trayned by Achilles⸝ bycauſe he was wont to be ſo redoubtab[l]e to them⸝ […]"
- 1 inspiring fear wordnet
- 2 worthy of respect or honor wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"She was politely described as a redoubtable dowager."
Etymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English redoutable (“worthy of honour, venerable; frightening, terrible”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman redoutable and Middle French redoutable, redoubtable, from Old French redotable (modern French redoutable), from redoter (“to fear”) (whence Middle French redoubter, redouter, French redouter) + -able (suffix meaning ‘deserving of, worthy of’). Redoter is derived from re- (intensifying prefix) + doter (“to doubt; to fear”) (from Latin dubitō (“to doubt, be uncertain, waver in opinion”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwi- (“apart, asunder; two”) + *bʰuH- (“to appear; to be; to become; to grow”), in the sense of being in two minds). The noun is derived from the adjective.
Related phrases
More for "redoubtable"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.