Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday June 6, 2006
bravura \bruh-VYUR-uh; brah-; -VUR-\
, noun:
1. A florid, brilliant style of music that emphasizes the technical force and skill of a performer; virtuoso music.
2. A showy or brilliant display.
But it was not just the bravura of his self-expression that gave him such a hold on his contemporaries.
-- Peter Ackroyd, "Oscar Wilde: Comedy as Tragedy,", New York Times, November 1, 1987
The straightforward narrative account is set down with old-fashioned punctilio in prose of classic distinction, singularly free of bravura, and marked by the hard clarity of outline that is one of Waugh's several manners.
-- Charles A. Brady, "Figure of Grace", New York Times, January 24, 1960
With his customary display of dramatic bravura, Sir Alan Ayckbourn is giving us twin comedies about a village fete and staging them simultaneously in each of the National's big, adjacent auditoriums.
-- Benedict Nightingale, "Witches of Updike Flying to London", New York Times, March 12, 2000
Bravura comes from the Italian, from bravo, "brave, excellent."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for bravura
