brash

American  

[brash] / bræʃ /

adjective

brasher, brashest

1. impertinent; impudent; tactless.

   a brash young man.

2. hasty; rash; impetuous.

   Synonyms:

   precipitate, foolhardy, imprudent, overhasty, reckless

   Antonyms:

   careful, prudent, wary, cautious

3. energetic or highly spirited, especially in an irreverent way; zesty.

   a brash new musical.

4. (used especially of wood) brittle.

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noun

1. a pile or stack of loose fragments or debris, as of rocks or hedge clippings.

2. brash ice.

3. Pathology. heartburn.

4. Scot. and North England Dialect.

   1. a sudden shower or burst of rain.

   2. any sudden, minor sickness or indisposition, especially of the digestive tract.

   3. an assault; attack.

brash ¹ British  

/ bræʃ /

adjective

1. tastelessly or offensively loud, showy, or bold

2. hasty; rash

3. impudent

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brash ² British  

/ bræʃ /

noun

1. loose rubbish, such as broken rock, hedge clippings, etc; debris

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brash ³ British  

/ bræʃ /

noun

1. pathol another name for heartburn

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Other Word Forms

• brashly adverb
• brashness noun

Etymology

Origin of brash

First recorded in 1400–50; (noun) late Middle English brass(c)he “a slap, crash,” perhaps blend of brok(e) ( Old English broc “breach, fragment, sickness”; akin to break ) and dasch “smashing blow”; dash ¹; (adjective) in the sense “brittle” is derivative of the noun; in the sense “hasty” by confusion with rash ¹

Example Sentences

The consensus was someone who is warm, funny, loud, brash and larger than life, with jokes for the children and adults alike but they cannot be a shrinking violet.

From BBC

Kwon, the brash entrepreneur who founded Terraform in 2018, was sentenced to 15 years in prison last week after pleading guilty to two criminal counts in August.

From The Wall Street Journal

Her eye for cinema is evident in the brash photos she took in 1992 of the annual sacrifice of hundreds of goats that takes place in the Mixtec Mountains of Oaxaca.

From The Wall Street Journal

The defense, however, sought to portray Kwon as a brash entrepreneur who genuinely aimed to build useful technology but unfortunately succumbed to the “fake it until you make it” mentality.

From The Wall Street Journal

Lane Kiffin, by contrast, bailed on his players and now resembles a renegade pirate at the helm of a flashy speedboat — fast, loud, brash and obsessively searching for buried treasure.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bold
• brazen
• cheeky
• cocky
• rude