Audaciousness Definition & Meaning

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Audacious first appeared in English in the mid-1500s. It was borrowed from the Middle French adjective audacieux, which was derived from the noun audace ("boldness, audacity"). Audace came from the Latin audacia, a derivative of the Latin root audac- ("bold"). Audac- is also the source of audacity, which appeared in Middle English (as audacite) in the 1400s. Audac- can be traced, by way of the Latin verb audēre ("to dare"), to the Latin adjective avidus ("eager" or "greedy"), which was also borrowed by English, either directly from Latin or via the French avide, to give us our adjective avid. Among the early adopters of audacious was William Shakespeare, who used the word seven times in his plays, as in Henry VI, Part 2, where Somerset addresses York with the lines, "I arrest thee, York, / Of capital treason 'gainst the King and crown. / Obey, audacious traitor, kneel for grace."

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. See More

Recent Examples on the Web The couple’s audacious plan, as laid out by federal authorities, as well as the brazen lifestyle that plan supposedly afforded, seemed tailored to these times, and these times alone. — Paulina Cachero, Bloomberg.com, 9 Feb. 2022 Many fled the country without their families during the audacious move. — Oren Liebermann, CNN, 2 Jan. 2022 Her audacious decision not only morally indicted the men responsible for Till’s death—that year, none were found guilty by a court—but galvanized public opinion against segregation and Jim Crow. — The New Yorker, 4 June 2022 This ambiance may seem more akin to a gay tiki bar: audacious, lively and super fun. — Von Diaz, Washington Post, 3 June 2022 Durant, the audacious and colorful original owner of the central Phoenix restaurant created a place that is still known for the vibe as much as for the martinis and steaks. — Georgann Yara, The Arizona Republic, 31 May 2022 Another name could be added to the list Tuesday evening when Salesforce, an audacious late-stage and IPO investor, releases its quarterly earnings. — Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 31 May 2022 The plot to use alternate electors was one of the most expansive and audacious schemes in a dizzying array of efforts by Trump and his supporters to deny his election loss and keep him in the White House. — Alan Feuer, BostonGlobe.com, 25 May 2022 For years, Zachary Horwitz lured people into what federal investigators describe as one of the most audacious Ponzi schemes in Hollywood history. — Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'audacious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for audacious

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

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