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.
Her gleeful cruelty was matched only by the audacity of her incompetence.
From Los Angeles Times
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 Literature
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
I had a lot of audacity back then.
From Los Angeles Times
“You had the audacity to do your job.”
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.
