audacious

[aw-dey-shuhs]

adjective

1. extremely bold or daring; recklessly brave; fearless.

   an audacious explorer.

   Synonyms: venturesome, dauntless, intrepid, courageous
   Antonyms: cowardly

2. extremely original; without restriction to prior ideas; highly inventive.

   an audacious vision of the city's bright future.

3. recklessly bold in defiance of convention, propriety, law, or the like; insolent; brazen.

   Synonyms: forward, impertinent, shameless, unabashed

4. lively; unrestrained; uninhibited.

   an audacious interpretation of her role.

audacious

/ ɔːˈdeɪʃəs, ɔːˈdæsɪtɪ /

adjective

1. recklessly bold or daring; fearless

2. impudent or presumptuous

Other Word Forms

• audaciously adverb
• audaciousness noun
• unaudacious adjective
• unaudaciously adverb
• unaudaciousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of audacious¹

First recorded in 1540–50; audaci(ty) + -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of audacious¹

C16: from Latin audāx bold, from audēre to dare

Example Sentences

As if “Boogie Nights” wasn’t audacious enough, Anderson boldly followed it up with a film of naked vulnerability: an emotional weather report unafraid to risk embarrassment in examining a perpetual dark night of the soul.

From Los Angeles Times

The young artist, in an audacious shot across the art world bow, was engaged in a symbolic act of Oedipal homicide.

From Los Angeles Times

Tristan Stubbs played an audacious ramp for six which saw the ball fly out of the ground, but tried and failed a second time to be bowled by Jamie Overton for 13.

From BBC

A wide and a dot ball followed after which Cox, who was left out of England's white-ball squads on Friday, played an audacious reverse scoop over third man to the seamer's final ball.

From BBC

Historians have interpreted this as the era’s political satire: the magpie, audacious in the presence of a great predator, represented the common man standing up to the nobility.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• adventurous 
• bold 
• courageous 
• foolhardy 
• resolute 
• risky