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.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• audacities
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of audacity

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

---

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

It is a living memorial to a president who was taken from us too soon, a man who had the audacity to aim for the moon before the science existed to get us there.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

A classic Arabic expression describes the brazen audacity of those who attack and then cry victim: “He slapped me, pretended to cry, and then ran to complain.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 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

“No. I had the audacity to complain about that pablum they feed us.”

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

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

While watching “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” I tried to imagine the superb movie that it nearly is, the one that Minnie’s passionate audacities could have sparked.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 7, 2015

The Nelson touch, says Admiral James, consisted of more than unorthodox audacities.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was the youth's way to preface his audacities by the assurance that he dared not utter them.

From Little Novels of Italy by Maurice Henry Hewlett

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• chutzpah
• gall
• guts
• spunk

---