audacious

[aw-dey-shuhs]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR audacious ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

extremely bold or daring; recklessly brave; fearless: an audacious explorer.

extremely original; without restriction to prior ideas; highly inventive: an audacious vision of the city's bright future.

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

lively; unrestrained; uninhibited: an audacious interpretation of her role.

Origin of audacious

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

Related formsau·da·cious·ly, adverbau·da·cious·ness, nounun·au·da·cious, adjectiveun·au·da·cious·ly, adverbun·au·da·cious·ness, noun

Synonyms for audacious

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR audacious ON THESAURUS.COM

1. courageous, intrepid, dauntless, venturesome. 3. unabashed, shameless; impertinent, forward.

Antonyms for audacious

1. cowardly.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for audacious

foolhardy, bold, resolute, adventurous, courageous, risky, brazen, brassy, brave, cheeky, daredevil, dauntless, enterprising, fearless, intrepid, nervy, rash, unafraid, undaunted, valiant

Examples from the Web for audacious

Contemporary Examples of audacious

If true, however, this would be bribery at its most audacious—and creative.
Putin’s World Cup Picasso ‘Bribe’
Tunku Varadarajan
December 1, 2014
Record numbers of Scottish voters shot down an audacious bid to break their 300-year union with the United Kingdom.
Scotland Says Resounding ‘No’ to Independence
Nico Hines
September 19, 2014
It was audacious and global in scope, yet annoying for being unavoidable.
U2 Generously Gives Us a Lousy Album, Sucks at the Corporate Teat
Hampton Stevens
September 13, 2014
The change, so audacious, so unorthodox, disconcerted the Costa Ricans.
Costa Rica vs. the Netherlands: A Tale of Two Goalies
Tunku Varadarajan
July 5, 2014
Variety taps Depardieu's "audacious performance [as] undeniably the pic's chief selling point."
French Political Sex Movie About DSK Sets Cannes Aquiver
Tracy McNicoll
May 17, 2014

Historical Examples of audacious

There was no audacious bobcat around to worry them that night.
With Trapper Jim in the North Woods
Lawrence J. Leslie
She was an audacious woman, and openly looked compassionately at me.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens
It was audacious in me, but I took another liberty with Pangloss.
The Uncommercial Traveller
Charles Dickens
Alice glanced at his serious face, and yielded to an audacious temptation.
Alice Adams
Booth Tarkington
Audacious as I was, I did not care to inquire in what room I should find them.
The Room in the Dragon Volant
J. Sheridan LeFanu

British Dictionary definitions for audacious

audacious

adjective

recklessly bold or daring; fearless

impudent or presumptuous

Derived Formsaudaciously, adverbaudaciousness or audacity (ɔːˈdæsɪtɪ), noun

Word Origin for audacious

C16: from Latin audāx bold, from audēre to dare

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

Word Origin and History for audacious

adj.

1540s, "confident, intrepid," from Middle French audacieux, from audace "boldness," from Latin audacia "daring, boldness, courage," from audax "brave, bold, daring," but more often "bold" in a bad sense, "audacious, rash, foolhardy," from audere "to dare, be bold." Bad sense of "shameless" is attested from 1590s in English. Related: Audaciously.