audacious
Americanadjective
-
extremely bold or daring; recklessly brave; fearless.
an audacious explorer.
- Synonyms:
- venturesome, dauntless, intrepid, courageous
- Antonyms:
- cowardly
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- forward, impertinent, shameless, unabashed
-
lively; unrestrained; uninhibited.
an audacious interpretation of her role.
adjective
-
recklessly bold or daring; fearless
-
impudent or presumptuous
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of audacious
First recorded in 1540–50; audaci(ty) + -ous
Explanation
This adjective is very bold — if you are audacious, you are daring and unconventional! The adjective audacious comes from the Latin word audacia and means "daring, boldness, courage," and often gets applied in situations where someone does something pretty unusual, like becoming an astronaut and going to the moon. It can also mean challenging conventions and doing things that most people don't do, such as when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the United States to become a doctor. Blackwell then inspired Elizabeth Garrett Anderson to become the first female doctor in England. And the rest is history!
Vocabulary lists containing audacious
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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List 2
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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.
There will be searching questions about how such an audacious crime could have gone unnoticed and unchecked for more than a decade, and vindication for the detectives who decided they needed that tent.
From BBC • May 25, 2026
Musk will be well compensated for his visionary leadership and for hitting some audacious goals.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
Mr. Kshatriya, 48, oversaw Artemis from 2023 until mid-2025, when he was promoted to his current job and passed operational charge of the audacious moon-to-Mars mission to a fellow Texan, Lori Glaze.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
Sweeney: It was one of the more audacious half-hour shoots, ever.
From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2026
“Do you think it was an accident?” the Colonel asked as I stood beside him, my shoulders slouching, wanting a cigarette but nervous to be as audacious as him.
From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
