ballsy
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ballsy
1955–60; balls (in the sense “boldness, courage, brashness”) + -y 1; cf. -sy
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.
See Examples For:
“They’re pretty ballsy, but they know what they’re doing.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 25, 2023
“She was really ballsy about wanting to invite those readings into the movie,” he says, “the incredible sense of disquiet that the script presented to her as a reader.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2023
All castanets and flamenco skirts, this is a big, ballsy cabaret number about love driving you crazy.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2023
I never questioned that we should be those things when I grew up, because women were very rock ’n’ roll where I came from, very forthright and very funny and ballsy and tough.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
“Jeez, I’m not exactly sure. I’m a—uh—‘boy soprano with a ballsy chest voice,’ according to my best friend.”
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
But I’m also richer, more powerful and ballsier than everyone else.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2016
You might expect J. Edgar to trump The Private Files with even ballsier revelations or, taking the high road, more elevated insights.
From Time ● Nov. 8, 2011
It’s something Jensen calls “the ballsiest thing I’ve ever seen a person do.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
“I think it's probably one of the ballsiest moves that has ever been made in the history of the hip-hop business,” says hip-hop historian Jeff Chang, author of the book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2014
The conference prank isn't even their ballsiest, or their funniest.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 22, 2012
Ladies and gentlemen, the ballsiest letter ever written.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2012
The result is the blackest, ballsiest political comedy since Dr. Strangelove.
From Time ● Nov. 19, 2010
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.
