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Webster 1913 Edition


Audacious

Au-da′cious

,
Adj.
[F.
audacieux
, as if fr. LL.
audaciosus
(not found), fr. L.
audacia
audacity, fr.
audax
,
-acis
, bold, fr.
audere
to dare.]
1.
Daring; spirited; adventurous.
As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides
Audacious
.
Milton.
2.
Contemning the restraints of law, religion, or decorum; bold in wickedness; presumptuous; impudent; insolent.
“ Audacious traitor.”
Shak.
“ Such audacious neighborhood.”
Milton.
3.
Committed with, or proceedings from, daring effrontery or contempt of law, morality, or decorum.
Audacious cruelty.” “Audacious prate.”
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition


Audacious

AUDA'CIOUS

,
Adj.
[L. audax; audeo, to dare. The sense is, advancing forward.]
1.
Very bold or daring; impudent; conteming the restraints of law, religion or decorum; used for bold in wickedness; applied to persons; as an audacious wretch.
2.
Committed with, or proceeding from, daring effrontery, or contempt of law; as an audacious crime.
3.
Bold; spirited.

Definition 2024


audacious

audacious

English

Adjective

audacious (comparative more audacious, superlative most audacious)

  1. Showing willingness to take bold risks; recklessly daring.
    • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games
      That such a safe adaptation could come of The Hunger Games speaks more to the trilogy’s commercial ascent than the book’s actual content, which is audacious and savvy in its dark calculations.
    • 2014 August 21, “A brazen heist in Paris [print version: International New York Times, 22 August 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times:
      The audacious hijacking in Paris of a van carrying the baggage of a Saudi prince to his private jet is obviously an embarrassment to the French capital, whose ultra-high-end boutiques have suffered a spate of heists in recent months.
  2. Impudent.

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External links

  • audacious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • audacious in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • audacious at OneLook Dictionary Search