bodacious
adjective
Did you know?
Some of our readers may know bodacious as a word that figured prominently in the lingo of the 1989 film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Others may recall the term's frequent use in the long-running "Snuffy Smith" comic strip. Neither the creators of the comic strip nor the movie can claim to have coined bodacious, which began appearing in print during the 1800s, but both likely contributed to its popularity. The exact origin of the word is uncertain, but it was most likely influenced by bold and audacious, and it may be linked to boldacious, a term from British dialect meaning "brazen" or "impudent."
Synonyms
Examples of bodacious in a Sentence
Kristin Guy, Sunset Magazine, 5 Mar. 2024
New gravel might seem like a minor feature in a garden bursting with more than 3,000 luscious, bodacious roses of 139 varieties.
—Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 30 Jan. 2024
Sung by the bodacious character Sofia (the role Winfrey originated in 1985, now essayed by Orange Is the New Black actress Danielle Brooks), the song not only confronts male authority and domestic violence, but its repetitive chorus rejects traditional male–female companionship.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2024
According to the National Park Service (NPS), 128 Grazer is a bodacious adult female bear with blonde ears and a straight muzzle.
—Lizzy Rosenberg, Peoplemag, 11 Oct. 2023
In all of her acting roles to date, Megan has essentially played a version of her stage persona, an ultra-confident, bodacious, and unapologetically feminine force of nature.
—TIME, 13 Oct. 2023
Giambattista Valli, the Italian designer known for creating oversize silhouettes while wowing audiences with his bodacious gowns, took a more low-key design approach for his Spring Summer 2024 collection unveiling on Sept. 29.
—Allyson Portee, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Oct. 2023
Britain did have a top-of-the-charts 2021, but a report to Parliament this month said that is partly because its economy experienced the worst decline among the G-7 during the pandemic — and so the rebound looks bigger, bouncier, more bodacious in comparison.
—William Booth, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2022
Serving body, beauty, and bodacious all-around talent, Sasha is fierce.
—Vulture, 19 Dec. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bodacious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Bodacious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bodacious. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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