adjective
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shameless and bold
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made of or resembling brass
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having a ringing metallic sound like that of a brass trumpet
verb
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to face and overcome boldly or shamelessly
the witness brazened out the prosecutor's questions
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to make (oneself, etc) bold or brash
Synonym Usage
See bold.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of brazen
First recorded before 1000; Middle English brasen (adjective), Old English bræsen “(made) of brass”; see brass
Explanation
With brazen disregard for the sign that said "No Cellphones," the woman took a long call in the dentist's waiting room, irritating the other patients. Brazen describes something shocking or something that's done shamelessly. The Middle English word was brasen, "made of brass," from Old English bræs, "brass." In its literal sense, this word can mean "made of or resembling brass," as in a brazen drinking cup from a medieval castle. It can also mean overly or disrespectfully bold. A near synonym of brazen is our English word brassy, which has the additional meaning of being loud and showy.
Vocabulary lists containing brazen
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Grade 11, List 2
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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.
Shares of Coinbase Global fell 11% to $143.54, their biggest drop in more than a year after a brazen act of cyber theft at a major rival.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Chutzpah, however, is sometimes all it takes to get this kind of baffling, brazen and potentially exploitative deal across the finish line.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Workers told the BBC the brazen 55-second raid was all in a day's work, with offenders targeting the outlet multiple times every day.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
I watched the livestream and read Rosen’s brazen tweets upon leaving the courtroom.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
But the brazen claim that slavery must be accepted unconditionally as a permanent feature of the national confederation was, if not wholly new, at least an interpretive clarification never made before in a national forum.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
