Brave, too, has an alternate meaning of “excellent,” and as a noun used to refer to an American Indian warrior.ĩ. Bravery: This word, like courage itself, is an all-purpose term, though it also can mean “finery” or “ostentatious display,” perhaps from the idea of a triumphant hero’s trappings. Bottle: This British English slang term derives from the word for a container for liquid whether it alludes to the receptacle’s sturdiness or to the false courage inspired by imbibing alcohol from it is unclear.Ĩ. Boldness: This word means “daring, fearless” but can also mean “adventurous” as well as “presumptuous.”ħ.

Balls: This vulgar slang for testicles suggests that a person said, in a figurative sense, to possess them is endowed with an anatomical feature equated with virility and thus with courage.Ħ. Backbone: This word, one of several on this list that figuratively refer to body parts, implies that a courageous person is unyielding or indestructible.ĥ. Audacity: This term’s meaning as a synonym for courage is tainted by another sense, that of shamelessness.Ĥ. Adventuresomeness: Like many words on this list, this one is encumbered by the suffix -ness, but it and its nearly identical-looking and somewhat less clumsy synonym adventurousness convey a connotation of a flair for undertaking risky or dangerous enterprises.ģ. Here’s a roster of the valiant vocabulary:ġ-2. Some terms refer to determination more than bravery, but the two qualities are intertwined. 'Familiarity with danger makes a brave man braver but less daring'- Herman Melville 'a frank courageous heart.Courage comes in many varieties, often identified by distinct synonyms. Possessing or displaying courage able to face and deal with danger or fear without flinching Princeton's WordNet Rate these synonyms: 3.7 / 3 votesĬautious, timid, colorless, fearful, chicken, yellow-bellied, unmanly, poor-spirited, poltroon, craven, yellow, pusillanimous, fainthearted, dastardly, colourless, white-livered, faint-hearted, funky, caitiff, faint, chickenhearted, recreant, dastard(a), cowardly, lily-liveredĬautious, timid, fainthearted, colorless, faint-hearted, colourless, yellow, chicken, funky, craven, white-livered, yellow-bellied, dastard(a), unmanly, fearful, cowardly, dastardly, recreant, faint, lily-livered, caitiff, poltroon, chickenhearted, poor-spirited, pusillanimous Compare FORTITUDE.Īdventurous, bold, chivalric, chivalrous, courageous, daring, dauntless, doughty, fearless, gallant, heroic, intrepid, undaunted, undismayed, valiant, venturesomeĪfraid, cowardly, cringing, faint-hearted, fearful, frightened, pusillanimous, shrinking, timid, timorous Courageous is more than brave, adding a moral element: the courageous man steadily encounters perils to which he may be keenly sensitive, at the call of duty the gallant are brave in a dashing, showy, and splendid way the valiant not only dare great dangers, but achieve great results the heroic are nobly daring and dauntless, truly chivalrous, sublimely courageous. The fearless and intrepid possess unshaken nerves in any place of danger. All great explorers have been adventurous children, fools, and criminals are venturesome.

The adventurous find something romantic in dangerous enterprises the venturesome may be simply heedless, reckless, or ignorant. The daring step out to defy danger the dauntless will not flinch before anything that may come to them the doughty will give and take limitless hard knocks. The adventurous man goes in quest of danger the bold man stands out and faces danger or censure the brave man combines confidence with resolution in presence of danger the chivalrous man puts himself in peril for others' protection.

Synonyms for brave with a m