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dare
1[ dair ]
verb (used without object)
- to have the necessary courage or boldness for something; be bold enough:
You wouldn't dare!
verb (used with object)
auxiliary verb
- to have the necessary courage or boldness to (used chiefly in questions and negatives): He dare not mention the subject again.
How dare you speak to me like that?
He dare not mention the subject again.
noun
- a challenge or provocation posed to someone to test their boldness or courage:
I accepted the dare.
- an action proposed to someone as a challenge or test of boldness or courage: She knew it was going to be a humiliating dare.
Will he be able to complete the dare?
She knew it was going to be a humiliating dare.
verb phrase
Dare
2[ dair ]
noun
- Vir·gin·ia [ver-, jin, -y, uh], 1587–?, daughter of Lost Colony settlers, the first child born in the Americas to English parents.
DARE
3- Dictionary of American Regional English.
dare
/ dɛə /
verb
- tr to challenge (a person to do something) as proof of courage
- can take an infinitive with or without to to be courageous enough to try (to do something)
she dares to dress differently from the others
you wouldn't dare!
- rare.tr to oppose without fear; defy
- I dare say or I daresay
- (it is) quite possible (that)
- probably: used as sentence substitute
noun
- a challenge to do something as proof of courage
- something done in response to such a challenge
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Usage
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Derived Forms
- ˈdarer, noun
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Other Words From
- dar·er noun
- re·dare verb (used with object) redared redaring
- un·dared adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of dare1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of dare1
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Idioms and Phrases
- on a dare, in response to being challenged to attempt something dangerous or bold:
She scaled the wall on a dare.
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Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
In defiance, I held my ticket above my head, which triggered the spitting and chants of “How Dare You!”
Despite the 21 years I did in prison for a drug conviction, I am assimilating back into mainstream or, dare I say, white America.
We feel their strangeness when we read their words—they lived on a plane where few dare to tread.
While it may not leave you with many profound truths, I dare you not to fall in love.
He adds: “None of the fighters will dare touch it, if an emir has given permission.”
None other would dare to show herself unveiled to a stranger, and a white man at that.
I never dare venture over except as the guest of some more fortunate friend.
I do not know—I do not dare to believe—that I shall live to hear that key grating in the lock.
She would not dare to choose, and begged that Mademoiselle Reisz would please herself in her selections.
For accurate work the best instruments are the von Fleischl-Miescher and the Dare.
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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.
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