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

When I was a first year, I’d seen her make a cocky fifth year mop the entire mess hall because he had the audacity to start a food fight.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

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

In short, without Cassavetes both New Hollywood and the recent outpouring of zero-budget independent audacities would be unimaginable.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 15, 2016

The Nelson touch, says Admiral James, consisted of more than unorthodox audacities.

From Time Magazine Archive

What was written for children can hardly offend men; and the obscurities and audacities of the prophet would here have been clearly out of place.

From William Blake A Critical Essay by Algernon Charles Swinburne

Related Words

• chutzpah
• gall
• guts
• spunk