audacious

adjective

au·​da·​cious ȯ-ˈdā-shəs 

1

a

: intrepidly daring : adventurous

an audacious mountain climber

b

: recklessly bold : rash

an audacious maneuver

2

: contemptuous of law, religion, or decorum : insolent

an audacious maverick

3

: marked by originality and verve

audacious experiments

audaciously adverb

audaciousness noun

Did you know?

Fortune favors the bold—or, as ancient Romans are known to have said, “audentes Fortuna iuvat.” Audentes here is the present participle of the Latin verb audēre, meaning “to dare,” a word that also led, via several etymological twists and turns through the centuries, to the English adjective audacious. When it first appeared in English in the mid-1500s, audacious meant “intrepidly daring,” a sense we still use today when we apply the word to various feats of derring-do and those who dare to do them. Since then it has developed several additional meanings, including the closely related “recklessly bold” and “marked by originality and verve,” as in “her audacious new album heralds the future of hip-hop.” Of course, with audacity (another audēre descendent) comes risk that fortune, despite the maxim, doesn’t always favor: as fungi foragers know, there are sagacious mushroomers, and audacious mushroomers, but there are no sagacious audacious mushroomers.

Synonyms

• arch
• bold
• bold-faced
• brash
• brassbound
• brassy
• brazen
• brazen-faced
• cheeky
• cocksure
• cocky
• fresh
• impertinent
• impudent
• insolent
• nervy
• sassy
• saucy
• wise

Examples of audacious in a Sentence

Whatever made him think his audacious fiction would sell—especially after a lifetime of literary marginalization—is a mystery, but he has certainly been vindicated. With a rush of work that he did not begin publishing until he was in his forties, he won literary fame in Europe and Latin America. —Valerie Sayers, Commonweal, 13 July 2007

This is an audacious claim, and Kramer anticipates, even encourages, the controversy it might provoke. —Gary Greenberg, Harper's, August 2005

… Morgan Pressel, the top-ranked female amateur in the country, has charted a less audacious course. A 17-year-old scrapper who gained prominence by tying for second at the U.S. Women's Open in June, Pressel is satisfied with taking on and whipping her own kind. —E. M. Swift, Sports Illustrated, 8 Aug. 2005

… he owns and operates a seductively spacious jazz club. But that's his day job, his cover. He executes his audacious midnight burglaries outside of the city, working solo, mapping out every detail so that nothing can go wrong, then returning like a phantom. —Owen Gliberman, Entertainment Weekly, 20 July 2001

They have audacious plans for the new school.

This is her most audacious film so far.

She made an audacious decision to quit her job.

Recent Examples on the Web

In some cases, either the algorithms or the strategic focus on boosting controversy provides the most audacious claims with a lifeline. —Peter Suciu, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024

Blink Twice is not a perfect movie, but Kravitz’s willingness to boldly confront dark issues in a smart and darkly humorous way heralds her standing as an audacious filmmaker on the rise. —Jennifer M. Wood, WIRED, 23 Dec. 2024

The killing of Kirillov was particularly audacious and high-profile but not an unprecedented attack. —Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 17 Dec. 2024

Rock may not have been the strongest host this season, but the comic delivered an audacious monologue that seemed to inspire a similarly gleeful approach in the night’s sketches. —Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 15 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French audacieux, from audace "daring, recklessness" (borrowed from Latin audācia, from audāc-, audāx "daring, bold, excessively daring, reckless" + -ia -ia entry 1) + -ieux -ious; audāx from audēre "to intend, dare, venture" (verbal derivative of avidus "ardent, eager, greedy") + -āc-, -āx, deverbal suffix denoting habitual or successful performance (probably going back to Indo-European *-eh₂, noun ending + *-k-, suffixal formative) — more at avid

First Known Use

1550, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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Kids Definition

audacious

adjective

au·​da·​cious ȯ-ˈdā-shəs 

1

: very bold and daring : fearless

2

: showing a lack of proper respect

audaciously adverb

audaciousness noun