audacity

American  

[aw-das-i-tee] / ɔˈdæs ɪ ti /

noun

• audacities
  plural

1. 

   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

2. effrontery or insolence; shameless boldness.

   His questioner's audacity shocked the lecturer.

   Synonyms:

   brashness, impertinence, impudence

   Antonyms:

   discretion, prudence

3. Usually audacities audacious or particularly bold or daring acts or statements.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• audacities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of audacity

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English audacite, equivalent to Latin audāc- (stem of audāx “bold, daring”) + -ity

Explanation

If you have audacity then you're one daring — and perhaps reckless — character. Running a red light with three previous tickets under your belt certainly shows audacity. And stupidity. The noun audacity developed from the Latin word audacitas, which means “boldness." So someone who shows audacity makes bold moves — and isn't afraid of the consequences. Audacity can be admired or frowned upon, depending how far it's taken and how it rears its head. But as former British Prime Minister and novelist Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Success is the child of audacity.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

audacity audacities

He railed against Rama’s audacity in offering up parts of Albania for sale at business meetings with men in suits.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

“Call it megalomania, genius, madness, audacity, irresponsibility, whatever you want,” said Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister of Mexico who once tangled with Castro.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Through her audacity and fierce self-belief, Osterberg was a prime mover in rewriting the playbook for women in British sport.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

This was shockingly unbookish behavior made worse by flabbergasting audacity.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

“No. I had the audacity to complain about that pablum they feed us.”

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

Watching “The Goldfinch,” I found myself fantasizing about one of the possible audacities that the movie, absent Theo’s unifying voice, could have hazarded.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 18, 2019

Besides a light show with a simulated jungle made by hundreds of floor-to-ceiling twisty elastic bands, their presentation didn’t rely on expensive mechanical audacities; it resorted to what the program described as an “analogue inventiveness.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 5, 2016

The nostalgia that turns critics away from many of the most bravely original films today is itself a byproduct of the neoclassical audacities of the New Wave.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 2, 2015

Lawrence, reserved, incorrigible, skulks about England, trying to decide whether or not to give the world his 120,000-word Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the staggering chronicle of his secret audacities and triumphs.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Stay, though," said Miles, drawing himself up to the last of his seventy-five inches, and speaking in that smooth, matter-of-fact tone that ushered in his most astounding audacities, "suppose we two try—in double harness—now?"

From At Large by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung

Related Words

• chutzpah
• gall
• guts
• spunk