boldness

C2+ Topic:Describing People

US /ˈboʊldnəs/ UK /ˈbəʊldnəs/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of being daring, confident, or fearless

It took real boldness to challenge the king to his face.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of being... courage daring audacity bravery fearlessness nerve intrepidity valor

Opposites

timidity cowardice meekness shyness

Word family

Related forms bold boldly embolden

Etymology

From bold + -ness. Bold descends from Old English bald, beald ('bold, brave'), from Proto-Germanic *balþaz ('bold'), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ('to swell, inflate').

bald Old English *balþaz Proto-Germanic *bʰel- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing People Word Formation & Derivatives

# boldness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈboʊldnəs
**IPA (UK):** ˈbəʊldnəs

## Meanings
1. the quality of being daring, confident, or fearless

## Examples
- It took real boldness to challenge the king to his face.

## Synonyms
- courage
- daring
- audacity
- bravery
- fearlessness
- nerve
- intrepidity
- valor

## Antonyms
- timidity
- cowardice
- meekness
- shyness

## Related Forms
- bold
- boldly
- embolden

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: bald
- Root: *balþaz
- Root: *bʰel-

## Etymology
From bold + -ness. Bold descends from Old English bald, beald ('bold, brave'), from Proto-Germanic *balþaz ('bold'), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ('to swell, inflate').

## AI Etymology
Boldness is from bold + -ness. Bold descends from Old English bald, beald ('bold, brave'), from Proto-Germanic *balþaz ('bold'), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ('to swell, inflate'). Important recorded forms include bald (Old English), *balþaz (Proto-Germanic), and *bʰel- (Proto-Indo-European). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers the quality of being daring, confident, or fearless. The wider family includes related words such as bold, boldly, and embolden.

## Topics
- Describing People
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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