noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A swaggering show of defiance or courage. countable, uncountable

   "The angry customer stood in the middle of the showroom and voiced his complaints with loud bravado."

2. 2
   a swaggering show of courage wordnet
3. 3
   A superficial show of courage. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   A swaggerer; a braggart. countable, obsolete, uncountable

Verb

1. 1
   To swagger; to brag. intransitive, obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms

adventuresomenessadventurousnessarroganceaudaciousnessaudacityballs

Example

More examples

"True bravery is quite another thing from bravado."

Etymology

From French bravade (“bragging or boasting”), from Italian bravata, from verb bravare (“brag, boast”), from bravo. Compare bravura.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.