Redoubtable

adjective

Daunting; provoking dread or fright
Deserving of admiration and respect

Usage

As inspiring as it is to behold (and satisfying to achieve), success can also be daunting. No matter how much we admire our personal heroes, it is a bit intimidating to think that a person just as ordinary as us has accomplished so much by dint of their own discipline. But, on the flip side, this is also encouraging, because in the end even the most redoubtable figures often don’t have anything that we don’t, and if we put our minds to it we can go just as far!

Redoubtable characterizes someone or something as so impressive or imposing that it inspires admiration, fear, or a combination of both. Anything or anyone described with this word is formidable or powerful enough to make others apprehensive. A redoubtable opponent would be someone you dread facing, and a redoubtable challenge would be a supremely difficult task to meet.

Redoubtable often describes someone as dangerous or difficult to overcome, but it can also be used to imply that a person is highly capable and worthy of esteem. For example, a redoubtable leader might be such an able and charismatic public servant that she commands the respect of her colleagues from all political affiliations and parties. Similarly, you could characterize an immaculately crafted bill that she submits to the legislature as a redoubtable piece of legislation. In these cases, the politician and her policy are both redoubtable because they exhibit a high degree of accomplishment and win respect from onlookers and commentators. Using redoubtable would probably also signify that the leader and her efforts are formidable enough to weather criticism or challenge − the leader would probably be undeterred by attempts to undermine her credibility, and her policies would likely be so soundly constructed that they leave few (if any) loopholes. Competency, effectiveness, and forcefulness are all traits that can make someone redoubtable.

As these examples also illustrate, being redoubtable is more than acting tough − there has to be something that commands respect or trepidation. Playground bullies might be aggressive and cocky, but unless they’re six feet tall or know martial arts, they probably won’t be characterized as redoubtable. Success alone also wouldn’t make someone redoubtable. Your boss may have climbed high up the corporate ladder, but if he masks his incompetence by trying to be everyone’s friend and never holding people accountable, he wouldn’t be redoubtable because there’d be no reason for anyone to fear him or take him seriously. Redoubtable individuals usually aren’t very lovable, but that’s just because everyone is intimidated by their abilities.

Example: Her debate skills were so redoubtable that her opponents dreaded arguing with her.

Example: The redoubtable athlete was easily the most skilled player on the field.

Origin

First appearing in English sometime in the late 1300s, redoubtable was taken from the Old French redoutable, meaning “terrifying” or “daunting.” This Old French word was adapted from the verb redouter, which means “to fear” and is composed of the prefix re- (used to add emphasis) and the root douter, meaning “to doubt.” Douter derives from the Latin verb dubitare, which means “to question,” “to reconsider,” or “be split over two options.” Dubius is formed from duo, for two, and ultimately stems from the Proto-Indo-European root dwo-, also meaning two.

Derivative Words

Redoubtably: The adverb form of redoubtable indicates when an action, adjective, or other adverb is commanding, intimidating, or awe-inspiring.

Example: The diplomat spoke so redoubtably that no one at the table dared to dispute her.

Example: They were also probably intimidated by her redoubtably loud voice.

Similar Words

Redoubt: Despite what your gut might tell you, redoubt doesn’t mean “to doubt all over again.” In fact, it’s actually a noun that means “a small, provisional fort or other defensive structure.” The noun form of redoubt is unrelated to redoubtable and comes from the Latin word reductus, meaning “a shelter” or “a place to fall back to.”

Once upon a time, English also featured a verb form of redoubt. This verb, which meant “to fear” or “to view with shock or wonder,” shares redoubtable’s ancestry with the Latin word for “to doubt,” douter. The verb redoubt is now obsolete, though its nounal doppelganger remains in use.

Example: Our favorite laser tag strategy is to hide in a redoubt and let our opponents come to us.

In Literature

From Jack D. Zipes’s, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture:

The very name of the genre itself - fairy tale - originated during this time, for the French writers coined the term conte de fee during the seventeenth century, and it has stuck to the genre in Europe and North America ever since. This "imprint" is important, because it reveals something crucial about the fairy tale that has remained part of its nature to the present. The early writers of fairy tales placed the power of metamorphosis in the hands of women - the redoubtable fairies.

In this passage, Zipes notes that fairy tales were called such because they commonly featured important transformative powers that resided with the awe-inspiring and terrifying, or redoubtable, might of female spirits: fairies.

Mnemonic

There is no doubt in a redoubtable hero’s might!
A redoubtable rival can make you doubt your skills.