bravo
Americaninterjection
noun
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bravos,
plural, plural
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bravoes
plural
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a shout of “bravo!”
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a daring bandit, assassin, or murderer, especially one hired to steal or murder for another.
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a word used in communications to represent the letter B.
verb (used without object)
interjection
noun
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a cry of "bravo"
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a hired killer or assassin
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bravo
First recorded in 1755–65; from Italian; see brave
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:
“Bravo and bravo, again,” Monet wrote on Dec. 3, 1897.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
"No, I stopped," said Meloni, prompting EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to cheer "bravo".
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
So bravo to you for taking this on.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 19, 2026
"You have brought happiness to all Ivorians, bravo, bravo," said President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast, which hosted the pan-African tournament.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2024
“You mean the idiots that I handpicked for cowardice and ineptitude? Oh, yes, bravo, Your Highness. That was a masterly piece of combat,” said Ripred, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins
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Bravo was rescued after 48 hours behind enemy lines.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
"It was an unregulated facility; it had faced administrative proceedings and fines since 2019, and was a repeat offender," the official, Jose Bravo, said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
Nearly three years ago, the phenomenon known as “Scandoval” rattled the Bravo TV universe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Last month, Thoma Bravo struck a deal to take private Accelerant, an insurance platform, around a year after it went public.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Sergeant Walcott from Bravo Company was sergeant of the guard, and he gave us a pep talk.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
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The bravoes draw near, and kept their eyes upon him.
From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Alessandro Manzoni
He cast a glance across the low stone wall upon the fields; no one! another on the road that lay before him; no one, except the bravoes!
From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Alessandro Manzoni
"The baffled tyrant returned to Whitehall with his company of bravoes," while the city of London sheltered Hampden and his friends.
From A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon For the Use of Schools and Colleges by John Lord
The bravoes took, or appeared to take them, in the more serious sense.
From The Betrothed From the Italian of Alessandro Manzoni by Alessandro Manzoni
It was customary for Roman gentlemen to hire bravoes for the defence of their palaces when any extraordinary disturbance was expected, as, for example, upon the vacation of the papal chair.
From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 09 by Rossiter Johnson
But, he noted, “the bravos won out, and rightly so.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2023
After intermission he was welcomed with robust bravos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2019
“She was nervous at first . . . but she stopped the show several times, and the bravos rang out like pistol shots when she finished.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2015
And these—he pointed to some huge black bulls—were Percy’s toros bravos.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 13, 2015
Celia’s decision wins her both bravos and more full-throated squabbling.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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Chicago operagoers had already bravoed both of them long ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
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After the festival's opening concert last week, a capacity audience of 2,200 stamped, clapped and bravoed in a demonstration that verged on Beatlemania.
From Time Magazine Archive
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He was bravoed in the capitals of Europe and South America, where he made the bolero famous.
From Time Magazine Archive
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At a recital a few days later, chastened Muscovites bravoed her back for five encores.
From Time Magazine Archive
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"And my Sunbeam was bravoed, and encored, and crowned with flowers, was she not?"
From The Baronet's Bride by May Agnes Fleming
But, once there, the power and diamond-hard brilliance of his playing had the studio audience bravoing between movements, despite NBC's standing request to the audience not to applaud until the work is finished.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Nearby, on an old-fashioned bed topped by a canopy, sat bravoing Authoress de Beauvoir.
From Time Magazine Archive
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He was visibly furious when the soloists in Otello tricked him by going offstage by another exit and hiding until Toscanini was forced to face the bravoing audience alone.
From Time Magazine Archive
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There was a burst of loud bravoing and clapping.
From Mortal Coils by Aldous Huxley
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