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bold

[ bohld ]
/ boʊld /
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See synonyms for: bold / bolder / boldly / boldness on Thesaurus.com

adjective, bold·er, bold·est.
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Idioms about bold

    be / make (so) bold, to presume or venture; dare: I made bold to offer my suggestion.

Origin of bold

First recorded before 1000; Middle English bald, bold, Old English b(e)ald; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German bald, Dutch boud “bold,” Old Norse ballr “dire,” from unattested Germanic bálthaz; akin to Welsh balch “proud,” Irish balc “strong”

synonym study for bold

2. Bold, brazen, forward, presumptuous may refer to manners in a derogatory way. Bold suggests impudence, shamelessness, and immodesty: a bold stare. Brazen suggests the same, together with a defiant manner: a brazen liar. Forward implies making oneself unduly prominent or bringing oneself to notice with too much assurance. Presumptuous implies overconfidence, effrontery, taking too much for granted.

OTHER WORDS FROM bold

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH bold

bolder , boulder
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bold in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bold

bold
/ (bəʊld) /

adjective
noun
printing short for bold face

Derived forms of bold

boldly, adverbboldness, noun

Word Origin for bold

Old English beald; related to Old Norse ballr dangerous, terrible, baldinn defiant, Old High German bald bold
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

Other Idioms and Phrases with bold

bold

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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