brazen

American  

[brey-zuhn] / ˈbreɪ zən /

adjective

1. shameless or impudent.

   brazen presumption.

   Synonyms:

   brassy, defiant, insolent

2. made of brass.

3. like brass, as in sound, color, or strength.

   Synonyms:

   brassy

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verb (used with object)

1. to make brazen or bold.

verb phrase

1. brazen out / through to face boldly or shamelessly.

   He prefers to brazen it out rather than admit defeat.

brazen British  

/ ˈbreɪzən /

adjective

1. shameless and bold

2. made of or resembling brass

3. having a ringing metallic sound like that of a brass trumpet

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verb

1. to face and overcome boldly or shamelessly

   the witness brazened out the prosecutor's questions

2. to make (oneself, etc) bold or brash

Related Words

See bold.

Other Word Forms

• brazenly adverb
• brazenness noun
• outbrazen verb (used with object)
• unbrazen adjective
• unbrazenness noun

Etymology

Origin of brazen

First recorded before 1000; Middle English brasen (adjective), Old English bræsen “(made) of brass”; brass

Example Sentences

Grant Cranston said he was surprised by how brazen the thieves who targeted his Inverness chip shop were, adding: "It was broad daylight. There were people walking around."

From BBC

A "brazen" rail fare dodger has been fined more than £3,600 after failing to pay for a ticket on over a hundred journeys.

From BBC

Not since Usain Bolt thumped his chest before crossing the finish line of the 100-meter dash have the Olympics seen such a brazen and ostentatious flex.

From The Wall Street Journal

It is a collection that stretches from Kansas to Tennessee to New York, with capers that have only grown more brazen over four decades.

From The Wall Street Journal

Fishler compared the comic's history to the brazen theft of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum in Paris in 1911, which transformed the then little-known work to the world's most famous painting.

From BBC

Related Words

• audacious
• blatant
• bold
• impudent
• shameless
• unabashed