Link Centre Dictionary

redoubtable

re·doub·table

UK/ɹɪˈdaʊtəbl̩/ US/ɹəˈdaʊtəb(ə)l/ uncommon

adjective

1.

inspiring fear

  • “the formidable prospect of major surgery”
  • “a tougher and more redoubtable adversary than the heel-clicking, jackbooted fanatic” G.H.Johnston
  • “something unnerving and prisonlike about high gray wall”
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2.

having or worthy of pride

  • “redoubtable scholar of the Renaissance”
  • “born of a redoubtable family”
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Origin

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English redoutable (“worthy of honour, venerable; frightening, terrible”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman redoutable and Middle French redoutable, redoubtable, from Old French redotable (modern French redoutable), from redoter (“to fear”) (whence Middle French redoubter, redouter, French redouter) + -able (suffix meaning ‘deserving of, worthy of’). Redoter is derived from re- (intensifying prefix) + doter (“to doubt; to fear”) (from Latin dubitō (“to doubt, be uncertain, waver in opinion”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwi- (“apart, asunder; two”) + *bʰuH- (“to appear; to be; to become; to grow”), in the sense of being in two minds). By surface analysis, redoubt (“to dread”) + -able. The noun is derived from the adjective.

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.