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have the guts

Idioms

Possess the courage, as in Does he have the guts to dive off the high board? This expression replaces the earlier and now obsolete sense of stomach as “courage,” a usage from the early 1500s. [Slang; late 1800s]

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.

Will this crop of European leaders have the guts?

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026

Fuzz guitars thrust the song forwards, as 32-year-old Sampa, full name Sampa Tembo, defiantly raps: "They don't have the guts to match my prowess."

From BBC • Dec. 19, 2025

“They have to have the guts to put their stars on the table.”

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 16, 2025

Not even the stylist teams at her beck and call have the guts to be brutally honest about her choices.

From Salon • May 2, 2024

If he told her it wasn’t her fault, he’d have to admit that it was his, and he didn’t have the guts to say it out loud.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023