brave
UK/bɹeɪv/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/bɹæɪv/
brave adjective: strong in the face of fear; courageous.
Adjective
brave (comparative braver or more brave, superlative bravest or most brave)
- Strong in the face of fear; courageous.
- For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.1578–1579, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale. [...] Dedicated to the Right Honorable the Ladie Compton and Mountegle”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the...
- Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I need your help.1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC
- Having any sort of superiority or excellence.
- Is it not paſſing braue to be a King,
And ride in triumph through Perſepolis?c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC... - Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Plantations”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
- Is it not paſſing braue to be a King,
- Making a fine show or display.
- Their plumed helmes are wrought with beaten golde,
Their ſwords enameld, and about their neckes
Hangs maſſie chaines of golde downe to the waſte,
In euery part exceding braue and rich.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC... - Wear my dagger with the braver grace.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Their plumed helmes are wrought with beaten golde,
- Foolish or unwise.
- Synonyms:
- courageous
Noun
brave (plural braves)
- A Native American warrior.
- A man daring beyond discretion; a bully.
- Hot Braves, like thee, may fight; but know not well / To manage this, the laſt great Stake of Hell.1674 (date written), John Dryden, The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man: An Opera. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1677, →OCLC, Act I, page 6
- In no other land, in modern times, have towns so absolutely died and disappeared, as in the old mining regions of California. […] For, observe, it was an assemblage of two hundred thousand young men—not simpering, dainty, kid-gloved weaklings, but stalwart, muscular, dauntless young braves, brimful...1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “”, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, pages 414–415
- A challenge; a defiance; bravado.
- Demetrius, thou dost overween in all; / And so in this, to bear me down with braves.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
Verb
brave (third-person singular simple present braves, present participle braving, simple past and past participle braved)
- To encounter or withstand with courage and fortitude, to defy, to provoke.
- After braving tricks on the high-dive, he braved a jump off the first diving platform.
- He braved the storm and spent the night outside. In the morning, he braved his parents' wrath.
- To adorn; to make fine or showy.
- Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave
not me. I will neither be faced nor braved.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave
Proper noun capitalized: Brave
Brave (countable and uncountable, plural Braves)
brave meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
brave in Hindi
- strong in the face of fear
- बहादुर bahādur, व्यकित vyakit
brave in Tamil
- strong in the face of fear
- தைரியசாலி tairiyacāli
brave in Marathi
- strong in the face of fear
- चातुर्य cāturya
brave in Urdu
- strong in the face of fear
- بهادر bahādur
More languagesFewer languages
- brave in Bengali
- সাহসী śahośi
- brave in Telugu
- ధైర్యమైన dhairyamaina
- brave in Malayalam
- ധീര dhīra, ധൈര്യമുള്ള dhairyamuḷḷa
- brave in Kannada
- ಶೂರ śūra, ಪೈಲ್ವಾನ್ pailvān
- brave in Punjabi
- سور sūr, بہادر bahādur, ਹਿੰਮਤ himmat, ਵੀਰ vīr
- brave in Odia
- ସାହସୀ, ସାହାସୀ
- brave in Sanskrit
- वीर vīra
- brave in Nepali
- बीर bīra
- brave in Pashto
- اتل atəl, اتله atəl, زړهور zṛawar, مرد mard
- brave in Tagalog
- matapang
- brave in Arabic
- شُجَاع šujāʕ, جَرِيء jarīʔ, جَسُور jasūr
- brave in Malay
- berani
- brave in Indonesian
- berani, menerjang
- brave in Persian
- شجاع šojâ', دلیر delir, نیو niv
- brave in Thai
- กล้าหาญ glâa-hǎan, กล้า glâa
- brave in Vietnamese
- dũng cảm, mạnh dạn, mạnh bạo, gan dạ
- brave in Myanmar
- ရဲရင့် rai:rang., သတ္တိကောင်း satti.kaung:
Examples of brave in a sentence
- […]he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity.1987, Michael Grumley, The Last Diary:
- Huntingdon's ferocity makes the reaction of staff all the more brave.2025 November 12, Philip Haigh, “High praise for rail staff's courage and clear thinking”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 50:
- It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall.18 February 1666, Samuel Pepys, diary entry
- For I have gold, and therefore will be brave. / In silks I'll rattle it of every color.1611, John Cooke, Greene's Tu Quoque:
Synonyms of brave
20 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
2 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of brave
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | braver |
| comparative | more brave |
| superlative | bravest |
| superlative | most brave |
| Noun | |
| plural | braves |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | braves |
| present participle | braving |
| past participle | braved |
| past | braved |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Braves |
Origin of brave
From Middle French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself of uncertain origin (see there). Doublet of bravo.
From Middle French braver, from brave.
Words formed from brave
Phrases with brave
Words that rhyme with brave
Questions about brave
- What does brave mean?
- Brave means strong in the face of fear; courageous.
- What is brave in Hindi?
- Brave in Hindi is बहादुर (bahādur), व्यकित (vyakit). See Brave meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use brave in a sentence?
- […]he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity.
- What part of speech is brave?
- Brave can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce brave?
- Brave is pronounced /bɹeɪv/ (UK).
Words near brave in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brave (page history and authors); Brave (page history and authors); ಪೈಲ್ವಾನ್ (Kannada) (page history and authors); بہادر (Punjabi) (page history and authors); brave (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); बीर (Nepali) (page history and authors); اتل (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-brave.ogg.
Cite this entry: “brave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.