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Synonyms

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

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

Not like the brazen giants of Greek fame, nor that mighty woman and her torch of copper.

From Literature

It’s huge, brazen and entangled with the seamy politics of migration and assimilation.

From The Wall Street Journal

And the old political playbook — confession, contrition, capitulation — is obviously no longer operative, as candidates find it not only possible but even advantageous to brazen their way through storms of uproar and opprobrium.

From Los Angeles Times