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  • bravo
    bravo
    interjection
    (used in praising a performer.)
  • Bravo
    Bravo
    noun
    communications a code word for the letter b
Synonyms

bravo

American  
[brah-voh, brah-voh] / ˈbrɑ voʊ, brɑˈvoʊ /

interjection

  1. (used in praising a performer.)


noun

  • bravos,
    plural,  plural
  • bravoes
    plural
  1. a shout of “bravo!”

  2. a daring bandit, assassin, or murderer, especially one hired to steal or murder for another.

  3. a word used in communications to represent the letter B.

verb (used without object)

bravoed, bravoing
  1. to shout “bravo!”

bravo 1 British  

interjection

  1. well done!

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a cry of "bravo"

  2. a hired killer or assassin

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Bravo 2 British  
/ ˈbrɑːvəʊ /

noun

  1. communications a code word for the letter b

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of bravo

First recorded in 1755–65; from Italian; see brave


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:

"No, I stopped," said Meloni, prompting EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to cheer "bravo".

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

When Maxey—and really, bravo for Maxey, who is the soul of this Philly team—put Game 7 with a string of fearless drives, the statement was Lazarus-like.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

You’ve created the life you wanted for yourself, and you can afford to eat in your favorite hotspots, so bravo for making it this far on your own terms.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 12, 2026

"There was a lot of negativity about the Seine before the Olympics. At least they have tried; they have spent £1.2bn on this clean-up project so bravo to them for doing it," Pardoe said.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2024

“You mean the idiots that I handpicked for cowardice and ineptitude? Oh, yes, bravo, Your Highness. That was a masterly piece of combat,” said Ripred, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins

Bravo was rescued after 48 hours behind enemy lines.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

"It was an unregulated facility; it had faced administrative proceedings and fines since 2019, and was a repeat offender," the official, Jose Bravo, said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026

Bravo has no intentions to remove footage of Gallagher from the current season, The Times has learned.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

Last month, Thoma Bravo struck a deal to take private Accelerant, an insurance platform, around a year after it went public.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Sergeant Walcott from Bravo Company was sergeant of the guard, and he gave us a pep talk.

From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers

But no one could account for the attack of the bravoes: all agreed in suspecting Don Roderick; but the rest was total obscurity.

From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Alessandro Manzoni

They reached Malanotte; bravoes were at the door, who bowed to the Unknown, glancing with eager curiosity at his companion, and the litter.

From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Alessandro Manzoni

Long before this, however, the alarm had been given to other personages of our story; the bravoes in one place; and Agnes and Perpetua in another.

From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Alessandro Manzoni

The presence of the three bravoes at the inn was discussed, and the landlord was interrogated; but his memory was, on this point, as defective as ever.

From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Alessandro Manzoni

"The baffled tyrant returned to Whitehall with his company of bravoes," while the city of London sheltered Hampden and his friends.

From A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon For the Use of Schools and Colleges by John Lord

By my watch, the ovation at the end lasted eight minutes, with especially ardent bravos for the Met’s chorus master, Donald Palumbo, and his charges.

From New York Times ● Sep. 12, 2021

After intermission he was welcomed with robust bravos.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2019

“She was nervous at first . . . but she stopped the show several times, and the bravos rang out like pistol shots when she finished.”

From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2015

And these—he pointed to some huge black bulls—were Percy’s toros bravos.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 13, 2015

Abandoned buildings were seen less often, die naked children vanished, the bravos in the doorways seemed more sumptuously dressed.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Onetime Hero Coste, bravoed in Manhattan as a counterspy in 1945, was now arrested in France as a wartime spy for Germany and a collaborator since 1940.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was bravoed in the capitals of Europe and South America, where he made the bolero famous.

From Time Magazine Archive

At a recital a few days later, chastened Muscovites bravoed her back for five encores.

From Time Magazine Archive

Years passed and at the Metropolitan Tenor Martinelli continued to take second place to some more bravoed figure.

From Time Magazine Archive

If they keep hysteria at a distance for a few hours, they are bravoed from one end of the Empire to the other.

From An Ocean Tramp by William McFee

But, once there, the power and diamond-hard brilliance of his playing had the studio audience bravoing between movements, despite NBC's standing request to the audience not to applaud until the work is finished.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was visibly furious when the soloists in Otello tricked him by going offstage by another exit and hiding until Toscanini was forced to face the bravoing audience alone.

From Time Magazine Archive

Nearby, on an old-fashioned bed topped by a canopy, sat bravoing Authoress de Beauvoir.

From Time Magazine Archive

There was a burst of loud bravoing and clapping.

From Mortal Coils by Aldous Huxley

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