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.

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July 20, 2014