bravado

American  

[bruh-vah-doh] / brəˈvɑ doʊ /

noun

• bravadoes,
  plural
• bravados
  plural

1. 

   a pretentious, swaggering display of courage.

   Synonyms:

   braggadocio, bombast, bluster, brag

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bravado British  

/ brəˈvɑːdəʊ /

noun

1. vaunted display of courage or self-confidence; swagger

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Synonym Usage

See courage.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overbravado
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bravadoes
  plural
• bravados
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bravado

First recorded in 1575–85; from Spanish bravada (now bravata, from Italian ), equivalent to brav(o) “brave” + -ada noun suffix; see origin at brave, -ade ¹

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Explanation

If you act with bravado, you are making a bold showy statement. Picture a cowboy bursting through saloon doors in an old western, and you can picture bravado. The noun bravado is derived from the French and Italian words meaning "bragging and boasting," and it is related to the word bravo. Today, the word means an almost-over-the-top amount of courage, but it can also be used (often with the word false) to mean a false show of bravery: "It was her first day in the classroom and she was almost shaking with fear, but with false bravado — she took a deep breath and turned to face her students — 20 kindergartners."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bravado bravadoes bravados

Giving evidence, Natland said he wanted to look "cool" to his peers but it was just "bravado" and inside he was "terrified".

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

In terms of massiveness, visual impact and sheer joyous bravado, it offers as much spectacle as any of his films.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Babitz courted danger with heedless bravado and exemplary recklessness.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026

But the DNA of the Barbary wars exists throughout American military history, a cocktail of entitlement, bravado and hypocrisy flavored with desperate violence.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her, but said with an odd mixture of bravado and awkwardness, “Hi, Harry! Wondered where you’d got to!”

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

During the time that Ferdinand and Isabella besieged the city, the young Moorish and Spanish knights vied with each other in extravagant bravadoes.

From The Crayon Papers by Washington Irving

Now, failure on every hand awaited him, and all those bravadoes with which he had kept down his better nature deserted him.

From Hatchie, the Guardian Slave; or, The Heiress of Bellevue by Warren T. Ashton

His expressed contempt and defiance of the world, reminds me of the bravadoes of children, who, afraid of darkness, make a noise to give themselves courage to support what they dread.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 20, No. 565, September 8, 1832 by Various

Ah! at such heartless bravadoes, how mourned the poor little nymphs.

From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I by Herman Melville

The fall of Charles X. had increased the audacity of the old Napoleonic veteran, who uttered all imaginable bravadoes.

From The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard by Anatole France

He must use his poetic powers as wonders attesting the purpose for which he speaks—not as mere bravados of ostentatious power.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. by Various

She makes sorties and attacks, she endeavours to hide her weakness by her bravados, and when she replies most disdainfully to a summons to capitulate, is perhaps on the eve of surrender.

From At Agincourt by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

It would be interesting to stare defiantly at his enemy at close range, to speak with him again man to man, to lure him into further bravados.

From Broken to the Plow by Charles Caldwell Dobie

Next to being raided by the sheriff of an adjacent county, having a river prophet come on board is the greatest excitement and the smartest amusement of the bravados down the river.

From The River Prophet by Ralph P. (Ralph Pallen) Coleman

Mimi began to laugh and to utter bravados.

From Bohemians of the Latin Quarter by Henry Murger

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Related Words

• bluster

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