dared

verb

past tense of dare
1
as in challenged
to invite (someone) to take part in a contest or to perform a feat I dare you to repeat that to my face! he dared his friend to race to the end of the block

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in confronted
to oppose (something hostile or dangerous) with firmness or courage every day the old fisherman dared the elements to make his meager living

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dared Hence, nobody dared to approach the horse, and its owner wasn’t found. — Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2026 Thor would have dared the rioters to come closer, then kicked their collective butts. — Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 2026 President Ronald Reagan dared wear brown suits, and he was declared fashion-forward. — Robin Givhan, Vanity Fair, 19 Aug. 2026 By contrast, Hamas’ strategy was to put its own civilians in harm’s way by building a tunnel system under cities that dared Israel to kill civilians in order to get to Hamas’ warriors. — Daniel Kolkey, Oc Register, 16 Aug. 2026 Many a middle-schooler has had to play tetherball, but how many dared to add bees to the mix? — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2026 When Guggenheim summoned contestants to the starting line on the first day of June outside City Hall in Manhattan, only four car companies – Acme, Ford, Shawmut, and Itala – dared to show up. — Danny Heitman, Christian Science Monitor, 7 Aug. 2026 This is far from the first time the model has dared to share a playful nude moment on social media. — Meg Walters, InStyle, 3 Aug. 2026 The pair found that the earliest someone dared to grow it in Florida was in the 1920s, when rare fruit collector Wallace Johnston took a stab. — Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 24 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dared
  1. challenged
  2. confronted
  3. faced
  4. braved
Verb
  • Davis’ defense attorney, Michael Sanft, challenged jurors to identify evidence outside Davis’ own statements that placed him in Las Vegas or inside the Cadillac on the night Shakur was shot.
    — Jonathan Landrum Jr, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Still, the emotionally stunted John claims not to harbor ill feelings toward Hal, though this is most certainly challenged by the end of the episode.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, Vulture, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of challenged
Verb
  • Surveillance video from the Cedar Glenn complex showed Brunson, Newman, and another unnamed co-defendant jumping a fence, approaching a Chevrolet Suburban, and fleeing after being confronted by a witness.
    — Ana Maria Soler, CBS News, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Pursued by monstrous entities and confronted by manifestations of human suffering, Dante and Virgil will eventually come face to face with the Devil himself.
    — Ed Meza, Variety, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of confronted
Verb
  • El-Sayed has taken heat from some in his party over his associations with Piker, the left-wing streamer whose comments about American Jews have faced intense criticism in recent days.
    — Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 27 Aug. 2026
  • An inquest opened Wednesday into the sudden death earlier this month of Jason Arday, a Cambridge University professor who faced a storm of plagiarism accusations.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of faced
Verb
  • Herlacher braved the falling debris and panicked people running through the streets to help her and was horrified to find the fragment had cut through her back.
    — ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Fans braved the heat to catch the quintet’s 3 pm performance.
    — Laura Sirikul, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of braved

Browse Nearby Words

dare
dared
daredevil
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Cite this Entry

“Dared.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dared. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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