dare
To dare someone is to offer a situation that is dangerous or risky. A dare is a challenge. Sometimes “dare” is used as a figure of speech (The words don’t have a literal meaning).
- Tanya dared her husband to eat the entire pizza.
- Children sometimes dare each other to do dangerous things on playground equipment.
- The company is going to dare its employees to go on strike.
- I dare you to go over to that woman over there and ask her for a date.
- His friends dared him to ride his skateboard up and down the ramp.
He rode his skateboard up and down the ramp on a dare.
The word “dare” can also be used as a noun:
- He rode his skateboard up and down the ramp on a dare.
- The man tried to swim across the river on a dare, but the current was too strong and he drowned.
- Kids like to play “truth or dare.”
This word can be used when shaming or warning another person:
- How dare you do that!
- How dare she leave her kids alone!
- Don’t you dare do that!
When you change the word to an adjective, it becomes “daring.”
- A daring rescue attempt succeeded when the plane landed in the ocean.
- That was a daring move. (It was risky.)
- Batman and Robin are also known as the “Daring Duo.”
- She’s wearing a very daring dress. (The word “daring,” when used for a dress, means that it reveals a lot of skin or it’s very unusual.)
Note: A daredevil is a person who takes enormous risks for the sake of entertaining other people. Daredevils jump off of mountains, ride motorcycles through hoops of fire, and climb skyscrapers, among other things.
