bra·vu·ra
brə-ˈvyu̇r-ə 
brä-,
-ˈvu̇r-
1
music
: a musical passage requiring exceptional agility and technical skill in execution
2
: a florid brilliant style
3
: a show of daring or brilliance
Examples of bravura in a Sentence
Adjective
a truly bravura performance of the ballet that brought the crowd to its feet
Recent Examples on the Web
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2025
The ransom-exchange sequence that comes in the middle of the film, set on a train car crowded with Yankees fans while a Puerto Rican music festival takes place underneath the subway, is the kind of bravura New York City electricity only Lee knows how to capture.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2025
His teammates performed their parts with bravura.
—Dan Greene, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
The bravura centerpiece is the two friends’ destructive brawl in a Hamptons manse, which explodes everything in sight, from an enormous aquarium to the second story window.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 15 Aug. 2025
Golden Voice Dion Graham gives a bravura performance of the fraught relationships between three generations of fathers and sons.
—Audiofile Magazine
july 31, Literary Hub, 31 July 2025
The pro golf world may still be basking in the afterglow of Scottie Scheffler’s bravura fourth major victory, but while fans pause to reflect on whether the current world No. 1 may be echoing Tiger in his prime, the tour has pressed onto Minnesota for the 3M Open.
—Mike Dojc, Forbes.com, 24 July 2025
Inputs at the top of the player accommodate 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm headphones, and here, the best-quality in-ear phones, including A&K’s own $5,000 Novus, exploit the capabilities of both software and hardware, bringing the concert stage and all of its accompanying bravura along for the ride.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 20 July 2025
The bravura sequence gets a fresh jolt when Nile abandons her lookout vessel and makes a spectacular entrance.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 2 July 2025
Justin Chang, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
The ransom-exchange sequence that comes in the middle of the film, set on a train car crowded with Yankees fans while a Puerto Rican music festival takes place underneath the subway, is the kind of bravura New York City electricity only Lee knows how to capture.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2025
The bravura centerpiece is the two friends’ destructive brawl in a Hamptons manse, which explodes everything in sight, from an enormous aquarium to the second story window.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 15 Aug. 2025
The film’s most bravura sequence sees Nate holding up a gas station while Polly looks on, horrified, when another customer whips out a gun.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 31 July 2025
His movies are deeply political, but also poetic and personal, eschewing traditional storytelling for an expressionistic approach marked by bravura stylistics, inner turmoil and the occasional musical number.
—Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 22 May 2025
His bravura side is still firmly in place, yet it is buoyed now by a growing sophistication.
—Thea Traff, New York Times, 3 May 2025
Sanders, on the other hand — in the most outrageously, satisfyingly bravura role of his career — doubles down on the stereotype.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 28 Sep. 2023
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Noun
Splitsville is a movie built around a series of surprising and stylized set pieces; the film also features a spectacular car crash and a fire, as well as multiple bravura long takes.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2025
The ransom-exchange sequence that comes in the middle of the film, set on a train car crowded with Yankees fans while a Puerto Rican music festival takes place underneath the subway, is the kind of bravura New York City electricity only Lee knows how to capture.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2025
His teammates performed their parts with bravura.
—Dan Greene, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
The bravura centerpiece is the two friends’ destructive brawl in a Hamptons manse, which explodes everything in sight, from an enormous aquarium to the second story window.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 15 Aug. 2025
Golden Voice Dion Graham gives a bravura performance of the fraught relationships between three generations of fathers and sons.
—Audiofile Magazine
july 31, Literary Hub, 31 July 2025
The pro golf world may still be basking in the afterglow of Scottie Scheffler’s bravura fourth major victory, but while fans pause to reflect on whether the current world No. 1 may be echoing Tiger in his prime, the tour has pressed onto Minnesota for the 3M Open.
—Mike Dojc, Forbes.com, 24 July 2025
Inputs at the top of the player accommodate 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm headphones, and here, the best-quality in-ear phones, including A&K’s own $5,000 Novus, exploit the capabilities of both software and hardware, bringing the concert stage and all of its accompanying bravura along for the ride.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 20 July 2025
The bravura sequence gets a fresh jolt when Nile abandons her lookout vessel and makes a spectacular entrance.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 2 July 2025
Adjective
Tracy’s dialogue, though absent the staccato non sequiturs of the director’s earlier work, has a bracing nastiness; every visual flourish and every menacing thrum of the score, by Jerskin Fendrix, escalates the intensity of Stone and Plemons’s bravura showdown.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
The ransom-exchange sequence that comes in the middle of the film, set on a train car crowded with Yankees fans while a Puerto Rican music festival takes place underneath the subway, is the kind of bravura New York City electricity only Lee knows how to capture.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2025
The bravura centerpiece is the two friends’ destructive brawl in a Hamptons manse, which explodes everything in sight, from an enormous aquarium to the second story window.
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 15 Aug. 2025
The film’s most bravura sequence sees Nate holding up a gas station while Polly looks on, horrified, when another customer whips out a gun.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 31 July 2025
His movies are deeply political, but also poetic and personal, eschewing traditional storytelling for an expressionistic approach marked by bravura stylistics, inner turmoil and the occasional musical number.
—Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 22 May 2025
His bravura side is still firmly in place, yet it is buoyed now by a growing sophistication.
—Thea Traff, New York Times, 3 May 2025
Sanders, on the other hand — in the most outrageously, satisfyingly bravura role of his career — doubles down on the stereotype.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 28 Sep. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Bravura.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bravura. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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