audacity

American  

[aw-das-i-tee] / ɔˈdæs ɪ ti /

noun

• audacities
  plural

1. 

   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

2. effrontery or insolence; shameless boldness.

   His questioner's audacity shocked the lecturer.

   Synonyms:

   brashness, impertinence, impudence

   Antonyms:

   discretion, prudence

3. Usually audacities audacious or particularly bold or daring acts or statements.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• audacities
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of audacity

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English audacite, equivalent to Latin audāc- (stem of audāx “bold, daring”) + -ity

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Explanation

If you have audacity then you're one daring — and perhaps reckless — character. Running a red light with three previous tickets under your belt certainly shows audacity. And stupidity. The noun audacity developed from the Latin word audacitas, which means “boldness." So someone who shows audacity makes bold moves — and isn't afraid of the consequences. Audacity can be admired or frowned upon, depending how far it's taken and how it rears its head. But as former British Prime Minister and novelist Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Success is the child of audacity.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

audacity audacities

The proposal is breathtaking in its audacity, so much so that you could be forgiven for being distracted by all the elements and missing the bigger picture.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

“Call it megalomania, genius, madness, audacity, irresponsibility, whatever you want,” said Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister of Mexico who once tangled with Castro.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Through her audacity and fierce self-belief, Osterberg was a prime mover in rewriting the playbook for women in British sport.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

This was shockingly unbookish behavior made worse by flabbergasting audacity.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

It was a statement astounding for its audacity.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Besides a light show with a simulated jungle made by hundreds of floor-to-ceiling twisty elastic bands, their presentation didn’t rely on expensive mechanical audacities; it resorted to what the program described as an “analogue inventiveness.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 5, 2016

In short, without Cassavetes both New Hollywood and the recent outpouring of zero-budget independent audacities would be unimaginable.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 15, 2016

The nostalgia that turns critics away from many of the most bravely original films today is itself a byproduct of the neoclassical audacities of the New Wave.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 2, 2015

Lawrence, reserved, incorrigible, skulks about England, trying to decide whether or not to give the world his 120,000-word Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the staggering chronicle of his secret audacities and triumphs.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was employed by Burke in one of the audacities of his logic directed against the governments established after the French Revolution of 1789.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 94, August, 1865 by Various

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Related Words

• chutzpah
• gall
• guts
• spunk

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