audacity
nounUK /ɔːˈdæ.sɪ.ti/ · US /ɔˈdæ.sɪ.ti/
Etymology From Middle English audacite, from Medieval Latin audācitās (whence -acity), from Latin audāx (“bold”), from audeō (“to be bold, to dare”).
1
Insolent boldness, especially when imprudent or unconventional.
- The brash private had the audacity to criticize the general.
- Somebody never pays his loans, yet he has the audacity to ask the bank for money.
1 more example
- “Oh?” she said. “So you have decided to revise my guest list for me? You have the nerve, the – the –” I saw she needed helping out. “Audacity,” I said, throwing her the line. “The audacity to dictate to me who I shall have in my house.” It should have been “whom”, but I let it go. “You have the –” “Crust.” “– the immortal rind,” she amended, and I had to admit it was stronger, “to tell me whom” – she got it right that time – “I may entertain at Brinkley Court and who” – wrong again – “I may not.”1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
2
Fearlessness, intrepidity or daring, especially with confident disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.
- Derived terms
- Caucasity, inaudacity, ovarian audacity
- Related terms
- audacious