audacity
Americannoun
plural
audacities-
boldness or daring, especially with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.
- Synonyms:
- foolhardiness, temerity, grit, spunk, nerve
- Antonyms:
- prudence, discretion
-
effrontery or insolence; shameless boldness.
His questioner's audacity shocked the lecturer.
- Synonyms:
- brashness, impertinence, impudence
- Antonyms:
- discretion, prudence
-
Usually audacities audacious or particularly bold or daring acts or statements.
Etymology
Origin of audacity
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English audacite, equivalent to Latin audāc- (stem of audāx “bold, daring”) + -ity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Speaking to Times Radio earlier this month, Turner said he was "already on a conduct warning for having the audacity to say that these proposals are ludicrous".
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
The aim remains to convince potential adversaries that "if they have the audacity to attack France... there will be an unsustainable price to be paid," the president said.
From BBC • Mar. 2, 2026
But no; half the time, corporations have the audacity to charge a service fee on top of the money they have saved by not hiring someone to do the work you, the consumer, just did.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 19, 2026
No one has the audacity to try to unseat him, or even to say that he won’t be in charge forever.
From Slate • Dec. 23, 2025
“I love you too,” I said so low even I couldn’t hear it, but my heart still thumped wildly at the audacity of it.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
