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have the guts

Idioms  

  1. Possess the courage, as in Does he have the guts to dive off the high board? This expression replaces the earlier and now obsolete sense of stomach as “courage,” a usage from the early 1500s. [Slang; late 1800s]

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.

When the market is truly swimming in red, will you actually have the guts to buy?

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 8, 2026

Fuzz guitars thrust the song forwards, as 32-year-old Sampa, full name Sampa Tembo, defiantly raps: "They don't have the guts to match my prowess."

From BBC • Dec. 19, 2025

“I wonder if I have the guts to get it the way I want it with him in it.”

From Seattle Times • Apr. 12, 2024

But he doesn't have the guts to admit it, instead continuing to play-act like he's a great man, even though no one is buying the act.

From Salon • Dec. 26, 2023

“I double-dare you. If you don’t have the guts to do it, you’re a weenie.”

From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

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.