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bold

adjective · verb

Simple meaning

Fearless and daring.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

bohld
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈboʊld

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Fearless and daring

    “Bold settlers on some foreign shore.”

  2. Courageous, daring.

  3. Visually striking; conspicuous.

  4. Presumptuous, forward or impudent.

  5. typographyof typefaces

    Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.

  6. ireland

    Naughty; insolent; badly-behaved.

verb

  1. transitiveinformal

    To make (a font or some text) bold.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

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More ways to use bold

  • “Bold settlers on some foreign shore.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

bold facebold typebold reliefbold stepbold strokebold frontbold letters

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • boldnessnounDerived noun

    The trait of being willing to undertake things that involve risk or danger.

  • boldlyadverbDerived adverb

    With boldness, in a bold manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • bold facenounCompound term

    A typeface with thick heavy lines.

  • bold fmrinounCompound term

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging that relies on intrinsic changes in hemoglobin oxygenation.

  • make boldverbCompound term

    Take upon oneself.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: fearless and daring

intrepid

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.