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brave

adjective · verb

Simple meaning

Strong in the face of fear.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

brayv
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbɹeɪv

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. Strong in the face of fear; courageous.

  2. Making a fine show or display.

verb

  1. transitive

    To encounter with courage and fortitude, to defy, to provoke.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Strong in the face of fear; courageous.

Used this way, brave is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Brave and principled
Usage feel
Warm and expressive

Nearby words

  • stouthearted , rarer, so it draws attention
  • lionhearted , rarer, so it draws attention
  • mettlesome , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use brave

  • “Familiarity with danger makes a brave man braver but less daring"- Herman Melville.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

brave soldierbrave words

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • bravelyadverbDerived adverb

    In a courageous manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • brave outverbCompound term

    Face and withstand with courage.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: strong in the face of fear

stoutheartedRarelionheartedRareboldspiritedstalwartmettlesomeRare

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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.