Seeming difficult to deal with in prospect; intimidating or discouraging.
From Old French 'danter' meaning 'to tame or subdue', itself from Latin 'domitare' (to tame). The word shifted from meaning 'to overcome' to 'to intimidate' by the 14th century, reflecting how what tames us can also frighten us.
Psychologically, what makes tasks feel daunting isn't usually their actual difficulty but our uncertainty about them. Research shows that breaking daunting tasks into specific, concrete steps dramatically reduces their perceived difficulty, even when the total work remains the same.
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