audacity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English audacite,^[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin audacitas (“boldness”),^[4][5][6][7] from Latin audāx (“bold, daring”), from audeō (“to be bold, to dare”).^[5][8] The OED and Merriam-Webster instead treat it as formed in English from the stem of the Latin adjective and the suffix -ity.^[9][2][3] The OED compares audacita, recorded by Florio in 1611.^[9] Audacious, from the same Latin adjective, followed in 1550.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Boldness, daring, confidence: in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon of 1432–50.^[9][5] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century, also with the sense of vigour or animation.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first named courage in a good sense.^[9][4] From 1531, in Elyot's Governour, it was also used of boldness that ignores the consequences, rashness.^[9] From 1545 it also meant open disregard of decency or morality, impudence, which Etymonline dates to the 1530s.^[9][4][7] Johnson (1755) still defined it neutrally as spirit, boldness and confidence.^[10] In 1859 it was first applied to daring originality, a bold departure from conventional form.^[9]

Timeline

• 1432 – boldness, daring, confidence.^[9][5]
• 1531 – rashness, recklessness.^[9]
• 1545 – impudence, shamelessness.^[9][7]
• 1658 – a bold creature, in Sir Thomas Browne.^[9]
• 1859 – daring originality.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Bold, daring courage, especially when it takes risks: the audacity of the climbers' plan.^[11][2][9]
2. Rude or disrespectful boldness; impudence or nerve: He had the audacity to ask for a raise after missing a week of work.^[2][9][7]
3. Daring originality, a bold departure from convention.^[9][2]
4. An audacious act or remark.^[2]

Related words

• audacious

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins