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
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
Miller, putting a spin of effrontery on every line, is the perfect actor to play this corkscrew superhero.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for effrontery
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
Miller, putting a spin of effrontery on every line, is the perfect actor to play this corkscrew superhero.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for effrontery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for effrontery
Noun
-
Then there are parasitic wasps, which lay their eggs in the galls and go on to devour the entire oak gall wasp.—
Maria Azzurra Volpe,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Aug. 2025
-
What unmitigated gall this organization has!—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
11 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
The new neurons integrated smoothly with existing nerve circuits.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Sep. 2025
-
Whatever the manifestation—hair-tucking, shorts-pulling, ball-bouncing, bobbing, pocket-checking, or something else entirely—the familiarity of these motions can have a soothing effect, calming the player’s nerves before a big shot.—
Caroline Tien,
SELF,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
This arrogance is not just limited to tech titans.—
Christian Josi,
Boston Herald,
31 Aug. 2025
-
These traits do not always show up as arrogance.—
Connie Etemadi,
USA Today,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Boldness and audacity are a protection for creativity against fear.—
Stewart Clarke,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025
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Build your audacity stack One of my favorite takeaways from Cultivating Audacity is that boldness grows through repetition, not revelation.—
Shelley Zalis,
Forbes.com,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Most of the smashing is done by Tamburlaine, a Scythian shepherd by birth, who rises to the peaks of power, lays waste to one kingdom after another, and has the temerity, at the climax of Part 1, not to die.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
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And when Hutch’s son gets into a fight at the arcade, drawing in a local adult who has the temerity to give Hutch’s daughter a shove, Hutch can’t help himself; he’s got to show these bullies who’s boss.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
13 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Effrontery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/effrontery. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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