bravo
interjection
(used in praising a performer.)
bravo
American
[brah-voh, brah-voh]
/ ˈbrɑ voʊ, brɑˈvoʊ /
interjection
noun
-
bravos,
plural, plural
-
bravoes
plural
-
a shout of “bravo!”
-
a daring bandit, assassin, or murderer, especially one hired to steal or murder for another.
-
a word used in communications to represent the letter B.
verb (used without object)
bravoed,
bravoing
bravo
1
British
interjection
noun
-
a cry of "bravo"
-
a hired killer or assassin
Bravo
2
British
/ ˈbrɑːvəʊ /
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:
"No, I stopped," said Meloni, prompting EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to cheer "bravo".
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
When Maxey—and really, bravo for Maxey, who is the soul of this Philly team—put Game 7 with a string of fearless drives, the statement was Lazarus-like.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 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
“Well, bravo you! How do people like you sleep at night? That is what I want to know.”
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Bravo said that despite his injuries, he hiked and climbed to the top of a tall ridgeline, in fear of Iranian forces the whole way.
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
My mind keeps drifting back to what Morgan said at Rio Bravo.
From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli
As he approached the castle he made a sign to all the bravoes he met to follow him: filled with unusual apprehension, but with their accustomed submission, they obeyed; their number increased every moment.
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
Queen Eleanor descended from her throne and amid clappings and bravoes gave Richard the stalk of lilies which had served her for sceptre and was now his palm of victory.
From Romance of Roman Villas (The Renaissance) by Elizabeth W. (Elizabeth Williams) Champney
Your dismissal of the bravoes, by means of the count’s ring, was a masterly stroke.
From Olla Podrida by Frederick Marryat
One of the bravoes, whom he had put to flight, had passed muffled up in his cloak, near the lattice of Marina.
From The New-York Weekly Magazine or Miscellaneous Repository. Alphonso and Marina by Various
But, he noted, “the bravos won out, and rightly so.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2023
“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
Rachel Moore is drawing bravos in Los Angeles, where she's headed to lead its downtown Music Center after 11 years as executive director of New York City-based American Ballet Theatre.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2015
And these—he pointed to some huge black bulls—were Percy’s toros bravos.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 13, 2015
Dying bravos oft found their way to the House of Black and White, to hasten their ends, but this man had no wounds that she could find.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
At a recital a few days later, chastened Muscovites bravoed her back for five encores.
From Time Magazine Archive
At the curtain, a shower of roses and confetti rained down from the galleries, and the house bravoed on for half an hour of curtain calls.
From Time Magazine Archive
Years passed and at the Metropolitan Tenor Martinelli continued to take second place to some more bravoed figure.
From Time Magazine Archive
Chicago operagoers had already bravoed both of them long ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
Together they had bravoed the great tragedians, and together hopelessly worshipped the beautiful faces, enskied and sainted, of famous actresses.
From Young Lives by Richard Le Gallienne
Nearby, on an old-fashioned bed topped by a canopy, sat bravoing Authoress de Beauvoir.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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
There was a burst of loud bravoing and clapping.
From Mortal Coils by Aldous Huxley
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.
