What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Dare vs Would - What's the difference?

dare | would |

As a noun dare

is tongs.

As a verb would is

(lb) as a past-tense form of (will) .

dare

English

(wikipedia dare)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) durran, from (etyl) .

Verb

  • To have enough courage (to do something).
  • I wouldn't dare argue with my boss.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The fellow dares not deceive me.
  • * Macaulay
  • Why then did not the ministers use their new law? Because they durst not, because they could not.
  • To defy or challenge (someone to do something)
  • I dare you to kiss that girl.
  • To have enough courage to meet or do something, go somewhere, etc.; to face up to
  • Will you dare death to reach your goal?
  • * The Century
  • To wrest it from barbarism, to dare its solitudes.
  • To terrify; to daunt.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs, / Would dare a woman.
  • To catch (larks) by producing terror through the use of mirrors, scarlet cloth, a hawk, etc., so that they lie still till a net is thrown over them.
  • (Nares)
    Usage notes
    * Dare is a semimodal verb. The speaker can choose whether to use the auxiliary "to" when forming negative and interrogative sentences. For example, "I don't dare (to) go" and "I dare not go" are both correct. Similarly "Dare you go?" and "Do you dare (to) go?" are both correct. * In negative and interrogative sentences where "do" is not used, the third-person singular form of the verb is usually "dare" and not "dares": "Dare he go? He dare not go." * Colloquially, "dare not" can be contracted to "daren't". * The expression dare say'', used almost exclusively in the first-person singular and in the present tense, means "think probable". It is also spelt ''daresay . * Historically, the simple past of dare was durst. In the 1830s, it was overtaken by dared, which has been markedly more common ever since.
    Derived terms
    * daredevil * daren't * daresay * daresn't

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A challenge to prove courage.
  • The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness.
  • * Shakespeare
  • It lends a lustre / A large dare to our great enterprise.
  • defiance; challenge
  • * Chapman
  • Childish, unworthy dares / Are not enought to part our powers.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Sextus Pompeius / Hath given the dare to Caesar.

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) darian.

    Verb

    (dar)
  • (obsolete) To stare stupidly or vacantly; to gaze as though amazed or terrified.
  • (obsolete) To lie or crouch down in fear.
  • *, Bk.XX, ch.xix:
  • *:‘Sir, here bene knyghtes com of kyngis blod that woll nat longe droupe and dare within thys wallys.’
  • Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small fish, the dace.
  • * 1766 , Richard Brookes, The art of angling, rock and sea-fishing
  • The Dare is not unlike a Chub, but proportionably less; his Body is more white and flatter, and his Tail more forked.
    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    would

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete)

    Verb

    (head)
  • (lb) As a past-tense form of (will).
  • #(lb) Wished, desired (something).
  • #(lb) Wanted to ( + bare infinitive).
  • #*1852 , James Murdock, trans. Johann Lorenz Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History , II.7.iii:
  • #*:The Greeks, especially those who would be thought adepts in mystic theology, ran after fantastic allegories.
  • #Used to; was or were habitually accustomed to ( + bare infinitive); indicating an action in the past that happened repeatedly or commonly.
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would' find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man ' would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
  • #*2009 , "Soundtrack of my life", The Guardian , 15 March:
  • #*:When we were kids we would sit by the radio with a tape recorder on a Sunday, listening out for the chart songs we wanted to have.
  • #Used with bare infinitive to form the "anterior future", indicating a futurity relative to a past time.
  • #*1867 , (Anthony Trollope), (w) , Ch.28:
  • #*:That her Lily should have been won and not worn, had been, and would be, a trouble to her for ever.
  • #*
  • #*:Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
  • #*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 5, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= QPR 2-3 Man City , passage=Toure would have the decisive say though, rising high to power a header past Kenny from Aleksandar Kolarov's cross.}}
  • #(lb) Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses.
  • #*1724 , (Daniel Defoe), , Penguin p.107:
  • #*:He sat as one astonish'd, a good-while, looking at me, without speaking a Word, till I came quite up to him, kneel'd on one Knee to him, and almost whether he would or no, kiss'd his Hand.
  • #*1846 , "A New Sentimental Journey", Blackwoods Magazine , vol.LX, no.372:
  • #*:If I could fly, I would away to those realms of light and warmth – far, far away in the southern clime.
  • #Was determined to; loosely, could naturally have been expected to (given the tendencies of someone's character etc.).
  • #*1835 , (Charles Dickens), (Sketches by Boz) , V:
  • #*:Then he took to breeding silk-worms, which he would bring in two or three times a day, in little paper boxes, to show the old lady.
  • #*2009 , "Is the era of free news over?", The Observer ,
  • #*:The free access model, the media magnate said last week, was "malfunctioning". Well he would , wouldn't he?
  • (lb) As a modal verb, the subjunctive of will.
  • #Used to give a conditional or potential "softening" to the present; might, might wish.
  • #*2008 , Mark Cocker, "Country Diary", The Guardian , 3 November:
  • #*:It's a piece of old folklore for which I would love to find hard proof.
  • #Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality (with a bare infinitive); indicating an action or state that is conditional on another.
  • #*2010 , The Guardian , 26 February:
  • #*:Warnock admitted it would be the ideal scenario if he received a Carling Cup winners' medal as well as an England call-up.
  • #
  • #*1859 , (John Bunyan), (w, The Pilgrim's Progress) ,
  • #*:I presently wished, would' that I had been in their clothes! '''would''' that I had been born Peter! ' would that I had been born John!
  • #*1868 , Sir (Walter Scott), (Ivanhoe) , Ch.23:
  • #*:I would she had retained her original haughtiness of disposition, or that I had a larger share of Front-de-Bœuf's thrice-tempered hardness of heart!
  • #Used to impart a sense of hesitancy or uncertainty to the present; might be inclined to. Now sometimes colloquially with ironic effect.
  • #*2009 , Nick Snow, The Rocket's Trail , p.112:
  • #*:“Those trials are being run by the American army so surely you must have access to the documents?” “Well, yeah, you’d think.”
  • #*2010 , (Terry Pratchett), "My case for a euthanasia tribunal", The Guardian ,
  • #*:Departing on schedule with the help of a friendly doctor was quite usual. Does that still apply? It would seem so.
  • #Used interrogatively to express a polite request; are (you) willing to …?
  • #:
  • #
  • #*1608 , (William Shakespeare), (King Lear) , I.4:
  • #*:What dost thou professe? What would’st thou with vs?
  • Usage notes

    * As an auxiliary verb, (term) is followed by the bare infinitive (without (to)): *: John said he would have fish for dinner. * (term) is frequently contracted to (term, 'd), especially after a pronoun (as in (term, I'd), (term, you'd), and so on). * The term would-be'' retains the senses of both desire and potentiality (those of ''wannabe'' and ''might-be , respectively). * Indicating a wish, (term) takes a clause in the past subjunctive (irrealis) mood; this clause may or not be introduced with (that). Most commonly in modern usage, it is followed by the adverb rather'', as in ''I would''' rather that he go now''. A call to a deity or other higher power is sometimes interposed after (term) and before the subjunctive clause, as in '''''Would to God that ; see for examples.

    Synonyms

    * (indicating an action in the past that happened repeatedly or commonly ): used to * (used to express a polite request ): be so good as to, kindly, please

    See also

    * could * should * * (projectlink)