bold
Americanadjective
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bolder,
comparative
-
boldest
superlative
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not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger or rebuff; courageous and daring.
a bold hero.
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not hesitating to break the rules of propriety; forward; impudent.
He apologized for being so bold as to speak to the emperor.
- Antonyms:
- modest
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necessitating courage and daring; challenging.
a bold adventure.
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beyond the usual limits of conventional thought or action; imaginative.
Einstein was a bold mathematician.
a difficult problem needing a bold answer.
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striking or conspicuous to the eye; flashy; showy.
a bold pattern.
-
a bold promontory.
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Nautical. deep enough to be navigable close to the shore.
bold waters.
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Printing. typeset in boldface.
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Obsolete. trusting; assured.
idioms
adjective
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courageous, confident, and fearless; ready to take risks
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showing or requiring courage
a bold plan
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immodest or impudent
she gave him a bold look
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standing out distinctly; conspicuous
a figure carved in bold relief
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very steep
the bold face of the cliff
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imaginative in thought or expression
the novel's bold plot
-
printing set in bold face
noun
Synonym Usage
Bold, brazen, forward, presumptuous may refer to manners in a derogatory way. Bold suggests impudence, shamelessness, and immodesty: a bold stare. Brazen suggests the same, together with a defiant manner: a brazen liar. Forward implies making oneself unduly prominent or bringing oneself to notice with too much assurance. Presumptuous implies overconfidence, effrontery, taking too much for granted.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of bold
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bald, bold, Old English b(e)ald; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German bald, Dutch boud “bold,” Old Norse ballr “dire,” from unattested Germanic bálthaz; akin to Welsh balch “proud,” Irish balc “strong”
Explanation
Someone who's bold is daring and brave. You might show how bold you are by climbing onto the roof of your house, or by speaking up when you see someone being treated unfairly. When you act in a bold way, you're taking some kind of risk; you could be risking physical danger, embarrassment, or your reputation. Whatever bold actions you take, they are confident and fearless. The adjective bold can also be used to describe a particular typeface that is thick, dark, and confident. Bold type is usually used to emphasize something strongly in writing.
Vocabulary lists containing bold
Language and Grammar - Introductory
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
See Examples For:
These are just some of the bold, controversial statements that have come up at “Unpopular Opinion,” a live, interactive event where people share and defend their hot takes in front of a spirited audience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
The Premier League has never been quite so bold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
For 2031, Citi forecasts about $1 trillion in revenue, in line with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s bold prediction.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
In this vein, “Little Girl” fully belongs on the “Rubber Soul” box set, a collection that points towards the bold sense of artistry already taking hold of the band.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
To inform the public, they circulated thousands of bold leaflets throughout Munich and other towns in southern Germany.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
We need both candidates to be bolder, more creative, more convincing, and to tell us things we haven’t heard before.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
It was soon crossed out by another chalk artist who wrote “Lake Ontario” in bolder lines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
"We need to become bolder and more radical," a senior MP added.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Investors wonder if Ternus will make bolder bets on new technologies, according to Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
This, perhaps as much as the money, is what keeps Holly going through nausea and pain, and even some of the livelier, bolder women seem inordinately sensitive to how he’s feeling about them.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
The move is one of the boldest yet to legitimize the billions of dollars worth of gold unearthed by informal miners, a business often associated with worker exploitation and environmental damage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Moreover, even a consumer-goods manufacturer’s boldest creations can be mimicked by a retailer’s private label.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
In the boldest move yet globally to curb the rise of fast fashion, France is set to impose per-item fees on Shein, Temu and other platforms deemed by the legislation to engage in "ultra-fast fashion".
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
“Lanterns,” which unfolds across two timelines, is the boldest entry so far in James Gunn’s remade DC Universe.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
She smiled and said “Well done!” as he walked past her, and it was the boldest thing she had ever done, the first time she had demanded attention from a man.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
