bravery

[brey-vuh-ree, breyv-ree]

noun, plural brav·er·ies.

Origin of bravery

1540–50; probably < Italian braveria, equivalent to brav(are) to brave + -eria -ery

Related formso·ver·brav·er·y, noun

Can be confusedbravery bravado bravura

1. intrepidity, fearlessness, boldness, daring, prowess, heroism, pluck, spirit, audacity, nerve, mettle, spunk.

1. See courage.

1. cowardice.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Here it is, in the faces of the victims, in the stories of bravery, in the souls and memory of the survivors, the next of kin.
Dick Cheney vs. ‘Unbroken’
Mike Barnicle
December 15, 2014
In 175 well-chosen words, he sums up the trials and the grit and bravery of the civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King’s Nobel Speech Is an Often Ignored Masterpiece
Malcolm Jones
October 16, 2014
This makes the bravery of Julia and Sveta, a lesbian couple, to appear in the documentary that much more moving.
The ‘Hunted’ Gays of Putin’s Russia: Vicious Vigilantes and State Bigotry Close Up
Tim Teeman
October 6, 2014
He had been decorated for bravery nineteen times in his twenty-one-year career.
The Resilient City: New York After 9/11
John Avlon
September 11, 2014
And she was 81: her death marks a shaming lack of bravery and innovation on the part of younger comics.
I Was There: Inside Joan Rivers’ Funeral
Tim Teeman
September 8, 2014

I asked him what reward the Helots had for bravery or virtue.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
The attention of the reader is directed to the bravery of this officer.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force
Sir Winston S. Churchill
This was bold, but there was little enough of bravery in my words.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
But he jumped out of bed, and after his ablutions he recovered all his bravery.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola
What delight it gave her to hear of the bravery of her poor boy!
Barnaby Rudge
Charles Dickens

1540s, "daring, defiance, boasting," from French braverie, from braver "to brave" (see brave) or else from cognate Italian braveria, from bravare.

No Man is an Atheist, however he pretend it and serve the Company with his Braveries. [Donne, 1631]

As a good quality, attested from 1580s. Meaning "fine clothes" is from 1560s and holds the older sense.