brave definition | Dictionary.com

brave

[breyv]

adjective, brav⋅er, brav⋅est, noun, verb, braved, brav⋅ing.

–adjective

1.	possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance.

2.	making a fine appearance.

3.	Archaic. excellent; fine; admirable.

–noun

4.	a brave person.

5.	a warrior, esp. among North American Indian tribes.

Obsolete.

a bully.

b.	a boast or challenge.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to meet or face courageously: to brave misfortunes.

8.	to defy; challenge; dare.

9.	Obsolete. to make splendid.

–verb (used without object)

10.	Obsolete. to boast; brag.

Origin:
1475–85; < MF < Sp bravo (> It) < VL *brabus for L barbarus barbarous

Related forms:

bravely, adverb

braveness, noun

Synonyms:
1. bold, intrepid, daring, dauntless, heroic. Brave, courageous, valiant, fearless, gallant refer to confident bearing in the face of difficulties or dangers. Brave is the most comprehensive: it is especially used of that confident fortitude or daring that actively faces and endures anything threatening. Courageous implies a higher or nobler kind of bravery, esp. as resulting from an inborn quality of mind or spirit that faces or endures perils or difficulties without fear and even with enthusiasm. Valiant implies a correspondence between an inner courageousness and external deeds, particularly of physical strength or endurance. Fearless implies unflinching spirit and coolness in the face of danger. Gallant implies a chivalrous, impetuous, or dashing bravery.

Antonyms:
1. cowardly.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To brave

brave (brāv)

adj. brav·er, brav·est

Possessing or displaying courage; valiant.
Making a fine display; impressive or showy: "a coat of brave red lipstick on a mouth so wrinkled that it didn't even have a clear outline" (Anne Tyler).
Excellent; great: "The Romans were like brothers/In the brave days of old" (Thomas Macaulay).

A Native American warrior.
A courageous person.
Archaic A bully.

v. braved, brav·ing, braves

v. tr.

To undergo or face courageously.
To challenge; dare: "Together they would brave Satan and all his legions" (Emily Brontë).
Obsolete To make showy or splendid.

v. intr. Archaic
To make a courageous show or put up a stalwart front.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Old Italian or Old Spanish bravo, wild, brave, excellent, probably from Vulgar Latin *brabus, from Latin barbarus; see barbarous.]
brave'ly adv., brave'ness n.

Synonyms: These adjectives mean having or showing courage under difficult or dangerous conditions. Brave, the least specific, is frequently associated with an innate quality: "Familiarity with danger makes a brave man braver" (Herman Melville).
Courageous implies consciously rising to a specific test by drawing on a reserve of inner strength: The courageous soldier helped the civilians escape from the enemy.
Fearless emphasizes absence of fear and resolute self-possession: "world-class [boating] races for fearless loners willing to face the distinct possibility of being run down, dismasted, capsized, attacked by whales" (Jo Ann Morse Ridley).
Intrepid sometimes suggests invulnerability to fear: Intrepid pioneers settled the American West.
Bold stresses readiness to meet danger or difficulty and often a tendency to seek it out: "If we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at the hazard of their lives ... then bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by" (Theodore Roosevelt).
Audacious implies extreme confidence and boldness: "To demand these God-given rights is to seek black power—what I call audacious power" (Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.)
Valiant suggests the bravery of a hero or a heroine: "a sympathetic and detailed biography that sees Hemingway as a valiant and moral man" (New York Times).
Valorous applies to the deeds of heroes and heroines: "The other hostages [will] never forget her calm, confident, valorous work" (William W. Bradley).
Mettlesome stresses spirit and love of challenge: "her horse, whose mettlesome spirit required a better rider" (Henry Fielding).
Plucky emphasizes spirit and heart in the face of unfavorable odds: "Everybody was ... anxious to show these Belgians what England thought of their plucky little country" (H.G. Wells).
Dauntless refers to courage that resists subjection or intimidation: "So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,/There never was knight like the young Lochinvar" (Sir Walter Scott).
Undaunted suggests persistent courage and resolve: "Death and sorrow will be the companions of our journey.... We must be united, we must be undaunted, we must be inflexible" (Winston S. Churchill). See Also Synonyms at defy.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Brave

Brave\ (br[=a]v), a. [Compar. Braver; superl. Bravest.] [F. brave, It. or Sp. bravo, (orig.) fierce, wild, savage, prob. from. L. barbarus. See Barbarous, and cf. Bravo.]

1. Bold; courageous; daring; intrepid; -- opposed to cowardly; as, a brave man; a brave act.

2. Having any sort of superiority or excellence; -- especially such as in conspicuous. [Obs. or Archaic as applied to material things.]

Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth. --Bacon.

It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall. --Pepys.

3. Making a fine show or display. [Archaic]

Wear my dagger with the braver grace. --Shak.

For I have gold, and therefore will be brave. In silks I'll rattle it of every color. --Robert Greene.

Frog and lizard in holiday coats And turtle brave in his golden spots. --Emerson.

Syn: Courageous; gallant; daring; valiant; valorous; bold; heroic; intrepid; fearless; dauntless; magnanimous; high-spirited; stout-hearted. See Gallant.

Brave

Brave\, n. 1. A brave person; one who is daring.

The star-spangled banner, O,long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. --F. S. Key.

2. Specifically, an Indian warrior.

3. A man daring beyond discretion; a bully.

Hot braves like thee may fight. --Dryden.

4. A challenge; a defiance; bravado. [Obs.]

Demetrius, thou dost overween in all; And so in this, to bear me down with braves. --Shak.

Brave

Brave\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Braved (br[=a]vd); p. pr. & vb. n. Braving.]

1. To encounter with courage and fortitude; to set at defiance; to defy; to dare.

These I can brave, but those I can not bear. --Dryden.

2. To adorn; to make fine or showy. [Obs.]

Thou [a tailor whom Grunio was browbeating] hast braved meny men; brave not me; I'll neither be faced or braved. --Shak.

Language Translation for : brave

Spanish: valiente, valeroso,

German: tapfer,

Japanese: 勇敢な

More Translations »

brave

1485, from M.Fr. "splendid, valiant," from It. bravo "brave, bold," orig. "wild, savage," possibly from M.L. bravus "cutthroat, villain," from L. pravus "crooked, depraved;" a less likely etymology being from L. barbarus (see barbarous). A Celtic origin (Ir. breagh, Cornish bray) has also been suggested. The noun application to N. American Indian warrior is from 1601. The verb "to face with bravery" is from 1776. Bravery is from 1548. Brave new world is from the title of Aldous Huxley's 1932 satirical utopian novel; he lifted the phrase from Shakespeare ("Tempest" v.i.183).

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