boldly go

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

to venture into unknown territory or undertake a daring new endeavour with courage and purposeful confidence, most famously from the mission statement in Star Trek — to boldly go where no man has gone before — which encapsulates the spirit of exploration, the willingness to face the unknown, and the optimistic belief that discovery and knowledge justify the risks of venturing beyond the boundaries of the familiar; the phrase has entered the general language as a way of describing any act of pioneering courage, whether in scientific research, business innovation, social reform, or personal challenge; its use of the split infinitive to boldly go was once criticised by grammarians but is now widely accepted and has itself become a cultural reference point in discussions of prescriptive versus descriptive grammar