Meaning & use
undeterred
Last updated
Meaning
adjectiveafter a verb
Still determined to carry on with a plan or effort even though problems, warnings or opposition have appeared.
Grammar: Usually follows a linking verb or opens a sentence, often with by: undeterred by the rain.
Patterns
- undeterred by something
- remain undeterred
- undeterred, someone does something
Undeterred by the rejection letters, she sent her manuscript to ten more publishers.
The hikers pressed on, undeterred, even after the path disappeared in the fog.
His critics were loud, but he remained undeterred and finished the project.
Common combinations
- undeterred by failure
- Undeterred by failure, the team rebuilt the prototype from scratch.
- remain undeterred
- The mayor remained undeterred despite the protests outside city hall.
- seemingly undeterred
- Seemingly undeterred, the climber started up the cliff again.
- undeterred by the weather
- Undeterred by the weather, fans queued all night for tickets.
- press on undeterred
- They pressed on undeterred, though everyone had told them it was impossible.
Synonyms and how they differ
- undaunted
- Undaunted stresses a lack of fear in front of something intimidating, whereas undeterred stresses that the person was not stopped.
- unfazed
- Unfazed is more informal and suggests the person was not even bothered emotionally, not necessarily that they kept going.
- resolute
- Resolute describes a firm character in general and does not need an obstacle, while undeterred always implies one.
- unswayed
- Unswayed focuses on not being persuaded by arguments, not on pushing through difficulty.
Opposites
Word family
- deter verb
- to make someone decide not to do something, usually by fear or difficulty
- deterrent noun
- something that discourages people from acting
- deterrence noun
- the policy or effect of discouraging an action by threat of consequences
- deterred adjective
- put off from doing something
Commonly confused: undeterred or undetected?
undeterred vs undetected
Undetected means not noticed or discovered, such as a virus that went undetected. It has nothing to do with being discouraged.
Practice
___ by the cold, the swimmers dived into the lake at sunrise.
Choose one answer.
Undeterred means not put off, which fits the swimmers ignoring the cold. Undetected means not noticed, which does not fit a sentence about being affected by weather.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “undeterred”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.