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
- audaciously adverb
- audaciousness noun
- unaudacious adjective
- unaudaciously adverb
- unaudaciousness noun
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.
Bradford failed to deal with McDonnell's audacious kick chase as the Rhinos forward raced in to dot down before the hosts could regain possession.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
The series boasts both monster-of-the-week camp and some of the most moving writing and audacious character arcs that have ever graced the small screen.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026
"I was ambitious, audacious and a little bit of naive," will.i.am said of pursuing the project.
From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026
Establishing a global city and financial hub to rival Singapore or London was always an audacious undertaking.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026
It would have taken a very audacious biologist to guess that such animals would eventually produce the line that dominates the Earth today.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
