as in gall
shameless boldness
the little squirt had the effrontery to deny eating any cookies, even with the crumbs still on his lips
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Recent Examples of effrontery
Both clever, the younger had the effrontery to be popular and sporty, too.
—
Esther Freud, Vogue, 2 July 2025
Ani is one of HQ’s best girls, and Madison plays her with a bawdy effrontery and a disarming grin that seems to widen by a mile under neon lights.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2024
Blocking the medical board from physician regulation is the worst effrontery to medical professionalism, puts the public at unacceptable risk, and might be a place for bad physician actors to be shrouded and protected.
—Joel B. Zivot, STAT, 26 Feb. 2024
These companies apparently have the effrontery to resist the attempts to reduce their access to capital being organized, primarily, by a largely unaccountable cabal of activists, financial institutions, and state pension funds.
—Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 7 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for effrontery
Esther Freud, Vogue, 2 July 2025
Ani is one of HQ’s best girls, and Madison plays her with a bawdy effrontery and a disarming grin that seems to widen by a mile under neon lights.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2024
Blocking the medical board from physician regulation is the worst effrontery to medical professionalism, puts the public at unacceptable risk, and might be a place for bad physician actors to be shrouded and protected.
—Joel B. Zivot, STAT, 26 Feb. 2024
These companies apparently have the effrontery to resist the attempts to reduce their access to capital being organized, primarily, by a largely unaccountable cabal of activists, financial institutions, and state pension funds.
—Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 7 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for effrontery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for effrontery
Noun
-
The documents that Dooley was now handling were barely yellowed, their edges lightly frayed, the oak gall ink ranging from brown to black.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
-
The apparent copy of Hipparchus’ catalog was written using ink made from tannin-rich oak galls, the common, often-round growths on oak trees triggered by larval wasps.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
24 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The ride is just long enough to let the nerves set in.—
Danielle Parker,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
-
This is one reason the drug expanded from being used primarily for seizures to becoming a mainstay for nerve pain related to such a wide variety of neuropathic conditions.—
Daryl Austin,
USA Today,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach take turns transforming into floating marketplaces — docks converted to catwalks, hulls polished to reflective arrogance, sales reps who can quote fuel burn like yacht owners care about costs.—
Eric Barton,
Sun Sentinel,
4 Jan. 2026
-
College football is awash in problems, including the Big Ten’s unrivaled arrogance, and its never-ending list of demands that would make Notre Dame blush.—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
1 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival brought a rousing ovation — maybe that metric does hold some water — and mixed reviews that picked apart the film’s pacing and characterization and the audacity of ending with a Lord Bryon quote over one from Shelley.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
23 Jan. 2026
-
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to hate wealthy people who have the audacity to keep achieving; there’s no need to invent new ones.—
Hillary Busis,
Vanity Fair,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
And Zelensky just hasn’t backed down, and Zelensky’s had the temerity to take him on, on a number of occasions, to push back.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
21 Jan. 2026
-
The first trial session for The Great Lakes Suite took place about a year and a half ago — which Hearn and Bidini say nobody had the temerity to record at the time.—
Gary Graff,
Billboard,
21 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Effrontery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/effrontery. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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