Word.ws English Dictionary

dared

UK/dɛəd//dɛɹd/

dared is the simple past and past participle of dare.

Meaning of dare

Verb (1)

dare (third-person singular simple present dares or (modal) dare or (obsolete) dast, present participle daring, simple past and past participle dared or (obsolete) durst)

  1. (intransitive) To have enough courage (to do something).
    • I wouldn't dare (to) argue with my boss.
    Synonyms:
    venture
  2. (transitive) To defy or challenge (someone to do something).
    • I dare you to kiss that girl.
  3. (transitive) To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to.
    • Will you dare death to reach your goal?
  4. (transitive) To terrify; to daunt.
    • For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs, Would dare a woman.c. 1608–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Maid’s Tragedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV...
  5. (archaic, transitive) To drive larks to the ground by scaring them (for instance, with mirrors or hawks) so they can be caught in nets.
    • I have an hobby can make larks to dare1516, John Skelton, Magnificence, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 35

Verb (2)

dare (third-person singular simple present dares, present participle daring, simple past and past participle dared)

  1. (obsolete) To stare stupidly or vacantly; to gaze as though amazed or terrified.

See all 13 meanings of dare

Words formed from dared

Phrases with dared

Words that rhyme with dared

13 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about dared

What is dared the simple past and past participle of?
Dared is the simple past and past participle of dare.
How do you pronounce dared?
Dared is pronounced /dɛəd/ (UK).

Words near dared in the dictionary

  1. dare-sayed
  2. dare-saying
  3. dare-sayings
  4. dare-says
  5. Darebin
  6. dared
  7. daredevil
  8. daredeviled
  9. daredeviling
  10. daredevilish
  11. daredevilism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dared (page history and authors); dare (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-dared.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dared.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dared. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.