| / English Dictionary |
AUDACITY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Aggressive boldness or unmitigated effrontery
Example:
he had the audacity to question my decision
Synonyms:
audaciousness; audacity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("audacity" is a kind of...):
boldness; brass; cheek; face; nerve (impudent aggressiveness)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "audacity"):
assumption; effrontery; presumption; presumptuousness (audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to)
Derivation:
audacious (unrestrained by convention or propriety)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Fearless daring
Synonyms:
audaciousness; audacity; temerity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("audacity" is a kind of...):
boldness; daring; hardihood; hardiness (the trait of being willing to undertake things that involve risk or danger)
Derivation:
audacious (disposed to venture or take risks)
audacious (invulnerable to fear or intimidation)
Context examples:
Life is commonplace, the papers are sterile; audacity and romance seem to have passed forever from the criminal world.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“If there is any Donkey in Dover, whose audacity it is harder to me to bear than another's, that,” said my aunt, striking the table, “is the animal!”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
You puzzle me, Jane: your look and tone of sorrowful audacity perplex and pain me.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
"S'ant!" replied the young rebel, helping himself to the coveted 'cakie', and beginning to eat the same with calm audacity.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
That a man should lie in wait for and follow a very handsome woman is no unheard-of thing, and if he has so little audacity that he not only dared not address her, but even fled from her approach, he was not a very formidable assailant.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He trembled at the audacity of his thought; but all his soul was singing, and reason, in a triumphant paean, assured him he was right.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
I came down again to my dinner; and even the slow comfort of the meal, and the orderly silence of the place—which was bare of guests, the Long Vacation not yet being over—were eloquent on the audacity of Traddles, and his small hopes of a livelihood for twenty years to come.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Appearances would warrant that conclusion: and, no doubt (though, with an audacity that wants chastising out of you, you seem to question it), they will be a superlatively happy pair.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
It was a characteristic speech, and sounded daring, but audacity becomes young people, and Amy's ambition had a good foundation.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
His audacities of phrase struck him as grotesque, his felicities of expression were monstrosities, and everything was absurd, unreal, and impossible.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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