Daunting Meaning
/ˈdɔːntɪŋ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjDiscouraging; inspiring fear.
adjIntimidatingly impressive; awe-inspiring, overwhelming.
Sentence Examples
The challenges are daunting, but we can overcome them.
It was a daunting task.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ task of climbing the mountain made everyone feel anxious.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The challenges are ____, but we can overcome them.
Word Origin & History
From daunt + -ing.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Deathes daunting dart where so his buffet lights, / Shall shape no change within my friendly corse: / But dead or liue, in heauen, in earth, in hell, / I wilbe thine where so my carkase dwell."
— a. 1530, George Gascoigne, “The Frute of Reconciliation, Written vppon a Reconciliation betwene Two Freendes”, in The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper; […] In Twenty-one Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson [et al.], published 1810, →OCLC, page 528, column 2:
"As for his menacing and daunting threats / I nill regard him nor his Daniſh power: / For if he come to fetch her forth my Realme, / I will prouide him ſuch a banquet here."
— c. 1590, probably Anthony Munday or Robert Wilson, A Pleasant Comedie of Faire Em, the Millers Daughter of Manchester: With the Loue of William the Conqueror. […] (Second Quarto), London: Printed for Iohn Wright, […], published 1631, →OCLC:
"Temp[est]. [...] Emily is for ever giggling. / Sir D[avid] D[aw]. She is not singular in that: go where I will, they giggle; that is rather daunting, you must think."
— 1795 February 28 (first performance), Richard Cumberland, “The Wheel of Fortune; a Comedy, in Five Acts; […]”, in The British Theatre; or, A Collection of Plays, which are Acted at the Theatres Royal, Drury-Lane, Covent-Garden, and Haymarket. […] In Twenty-five Volumes, volume XVIII, London: Printed [by Savage and Easingwood] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], published 1808, →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 24:
"Abd-ool-Azeez gave the stranger a daunting look, but coolly proceeded."
— 1819, Thomas Hope, chapter VII, in Anastasius: Or, Memoirs of a Greek; […] In Three Volumes, volume III, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 187:
"Instead of a single tap, [...] it became a hurried knocking, moving round the room behind the wainscot as if in search of something. I could have sworn that Someone or Something was feeling its way along. The daunting sounds arrived at the middle of the wall opposite the foot of the great bed, and became stationary."
— 1906 January, Allen Upward, “The Ghost Hunters”, in The Royal Magazine, volume XV, number 87, London: C[yril] Arthur Pearson Ltd, […], →OCLC, chapter II (The Tapping on the Wainscot), page 266, column 2:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ task of climbing the mountain made everyone feel anxious.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The challenges are ____, but we can overcome them.