Merriam - Webster Word of the day * Audacious *

Audacious

adjective
au·​da·​cious ȯ-ˈdā-shəs
Synonyms of audacious
1
a
: intrepidly daring : ADVENTUROUS
an audacious mountain climber
b
: recklessly bold : RASH
an audacious maneuver
2
: contemptuous of law, religion, or decorum : INSOLENT
an audacious maverick
3
: marked by originality and verve
audacious experiments
audaciously adverb
audaciousness noun



Did you know?
Fortune favors the bold—or, as ancient Romans are known to have said, “audentes Fortuna iuvat.” Audentes here is the present participle of the Latin verb audēre, meaning “to dare,” a word that also led, via several etymological twists and turns through the centuries, to the English adjective audacious. When it first appeared in English in the mid-1500s, audacious meant “intrepidly daring,” a sense we still use today when we apply the word to various feats of derring-do and those who dare to do them. Since then it has developed several additional meanings, including the closely related “recklessly bold” and “marked by originality and verve,” as in “her audacious new album heralds the future of hip-hop.” Of course, with audacity (another audēre descendent) comes risk that fortune, despite the maxim, doesn’t always favor: as fungi foragers know, there are sagacious mushroomers, and audacious mushroomers, but there are no sagacious audacious mushroomers.


Synonyms
arch
bold
bold-faced
brash
brassbound
brassy
brazen
brazen-faced
cheeky
cocksure
cocky
fresh
impertinent
impudent
insolent
nervy
sassy
saucy
wise


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
.

Recent Examples on the Web
The designer, known for his unwavering use of bold, audacious color, decided to go a softer route this time, opting for a muted palette of creamy neutrals.
—Indya Brown, Essence, 23 Oct. 2023
Given the allegations of unreasonableness from both sides, how novel and audacious is the actors’ ask, really?
—Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Oct. 2023
Across an expansive 30-track journey, the San Bernardino troupe embarks on a daring and audacious expedition, fearlessly delving into the realm of corridos bélicos with a distinctive drill influence.
—Ingrid Fajardo, Billboard, 20 Oct. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'audacious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.


Word History
Etymology
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


First Known Use
1550, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of audacious was in 1550