audacity

From late Middle English audacite, from Medieval Latin audacitas, from Latin audax (“bold”), from audeō (“I am bold, I dare”).

• (UK) enPR: ô-dăʹsĭti, IPA^(key): /ɔːˈdæsɪti/
• (US) enPR: ô-dăʹsĭti, IPA^(key): /ɔˈdæsɪti/

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audacity (countable and uncountable, plural audacities)

1. Insolent boldness, especially when imprudent or unconventional.

   Synonyms: audaciousness, chutzpah, outdaciousness, temerity

   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.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     “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.”

2. Fearlessness, intrepidity or daring, especially with confident disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.

• audacious

• “audacity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “audacity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “audacity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.