Meanings
bold1
comparative bolder · comparative more bold · superlative boldest · superlative most bold
- Courageous; daring.
Bold deeds win admiration and, sometimes, medals.
3 more examples
Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLCIt would be extraordinarily bold of me to give it a try after seeing what has happened to you.
2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 239c"I'm no agent. I simply AM." "That's a bold statement, considering I am is a popular name for God."
2018 September 9, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary, archived from the original on 10 Sep 2025Synonyms: audacious, brave, courageous, daring, forward, doughty · Antonyms: risk-averse, conservative, reluctant
- Visually striking; conspicuous.
the painter's bold use of colour and outline
- mediaHaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.
Many bold fonts are available on this computer.
1 more example
In HTML, wrapping text in <b> and </b> tags produces bold text.
- Presumptuous, forward, or impudent.
[…] even the boldeſt and moſt affirmative Philoſophy, which has ever attempted to impoſe its crude Dictates and Principles on Mankind.
1748, [David Hume], “Essay I. On the different Species of Philosophy.”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part I, page 18 - beveragesFull-bodied.
- PhilippinesPornographic; depicting nudity.
The government warned bus operators against continuing to show bold content on buses.
bold2
present singular third person bolds · participle present bolding · participle past bolded · past bolded
- obsoletetransitiveTo make bold or daring.
[…] for this buſines, It touches vs, as France inuades our land Not bolds the King, with others whome I feare, Moſt iuſt and heauy cauſes make oppoſe.
c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i] - intransitiveobsoleteTo become bold or brave.
bold3
plural bolds · alternative bolde · alternative boolde
- obsoleteA dwelling; habitation; building.
Bold4
plural Bolds
- countableuncountableA surname.
- countableuncountableA civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England.
BOLD5
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveCourageous; daring.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivefearless and daring
adjectiveclear and distinct
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
bold · adjective
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰel-
- Proto-Germanic*balþaz“strong, bold”
- Proto-West Germanic*balþ
- Old Englishbald
- Middle Englishbold
- Englishbold
From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“strong, bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē- (“to bloat, swell, bubble”). Cognate with Dutch boud (“bold, courageous, fearless”), Middle High German balt (“bold”) (whence German bald (“soon”)), Swedish båld (“bold, dauntless”). Perhaps related to Albanian ballë (“forehead”) and Old Prussian balo (“forehead”). Compare typologically Italian affrontare (“to face, to deal with”), sfrontato (“bold, daring, insolent”), both from Latin frons (“forehead”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →bold · verb
- Proto-Germanic*balþōną
- Old Englishbaldian
- Middle Englishbolden
- Englishbold
From Middle English bolden, balden, from Old English baldian, bealdian, from Proto-Germanic *balþōną, related to *balþaz (see above). Cognate with Old High German irbaldōn (“to become bold, dare”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →bold · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰew-“to grow, wax, swell”
- Proto-Germanic*budlą
- Old Englishbold
- Middle Englishbold
- Englishbold
From Middle English bold, from Old English bold, blod, bolt, botl (“house, dwelling-place, mansion, hall, castle, temple”), from Proto-Germanic *budlą, *buþlą (“house, dwelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, wax, swell”) or *bʰuH-. Cognate with Old Frisian bold (“house”) (whence North Frisian bol, boel, bøl (“house”)), North Frisian bodel, budel (“property, inheritance”), Middle Low German būdel (“property, real estate”). Related to build.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Bold · proper noun
* As an English surname, from the adjective bold (“daring courageous”) or the noun bold (“dwelling, house”). * As a Swedish and German surname, related to the adjective above, such as in Baldwin and Reinbold.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek τολμηρός, θαρσαλέος
- τολμηρός (tolmērós)courageous, daring
- θαρσαλέος (tharsaléos)courageous, daring
- τολμήεις (tolmḗeis)courageous, daring
Arabic جَرِيء, جَسُور
- جَرِيء (jarīʔ)courageous, daring
- جَسُور (jasūr)courageous, daring
Bengali সাহসী
- সাহসী (śahośi)courageous, daring
Bulgarian смел, хра́бър
- смел (smel)courageous, daring
- хра́бър (hrábăr)courageous, daring
- че́рен (čéren)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- получе́рен (polučéren)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Catalan agosarat, negreta
- agosaratcourageous, daring
- negretahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- grashaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Chinese Mandarin 膽大 /胆大, 勇敢
- 膽大 /胆大 (dǎndà)courageous, daring
- 勇敢 (yǒnggǎn)courageous, daring
- 粗體的 /粗体的 (cūtǐ de)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Czech odvážný, smělý
- odvážnýcourageous, daring
- smělýcourageous, daring
- troufalýcourageous, daring
- polotučnýhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- tučnýhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- zvýrazněnýhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Danish modig, tapper
- modigcourageous, daring
- tappercourageous, daring
- fedhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Dutch moedig, vet
- moedigcourageous, daring
- vethaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- vetgedrukthaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Esperanto aŭdaca, grasa
- aŭdacacourageous, daring
- grasahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Estonian julge, vahva
- julgecourageous, daring
- vahvacourageous, daring
- vappercourageous, daring
- pakshaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Finnish arastelematon, arkailematon
- arastelematoncourageous, daring
- arkailematoncourageous, daring
- karskicourageous, daring
- rohkeacourageous, daring
- röyhkeäcourageous, daring
- selväpiirteinencourageous, daring
- suorasukainencourageous, daring
- urhoollinencourageous, daring
- uskaliascourageous, daring
- voimakascourageous, daring
- lihavoituhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- lihavahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
French hardi, effronté
- hardicourageous, daring
- effrontécourageous, daring
- grashaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
German mutig, wagemutig
- mutigcourageous, daring
- wagemutigcourageous, daring
- tapfercourageous, daring
- kühncourageous, daring
- fetthaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Greek τολμηρός, θαρραλέος
- τολμηρός (tolmirós)courageous, daring
- θαρραλέος (tharraléos)courageous, daring
Hebrew אמיץ, אמיצה
- אמיץ (amíts)courageous, daring
- אמיצה (amitsá)courageous, daring
Hindi साहसी, निडर
- साहसी (sāhsī)courageous, daring
- निडर (niḍar)courageous, daring
Hungarian bátor, merész
- bátorcourageous, daring
- merészcourageous, daring
- félkövérhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Irish dána, forránach
- dánacourageous, daring
- forránachcourageous, daring
Italian sfrontato, ardito
- sfrontatocourageous, daring
- arditocourageous, daring
- audacecourageous, daring
- coraggiosocourageous, daring
- baldocourageous, daring
- grassettohaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Japanese 勇敢な, 大胆な
- 勇敢な (yūkan na)courageous, daring
- 大胆な (daitan na)courageous, daring
- 太字の (futoji no)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- ボールド体の (bōrudo-tai no)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- ボールド (bōrudo)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Latin audens, audax
- audenscourageous, daring
- audaxcourageous, daring
Māori taikaha, taekaha
- taikahahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- taekahahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- miramirahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Norwegian modig
- modigcourageous, daring
Norwegian Bokmål fet
- fethaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Persian جسور, جسورانه
- جسور (jasur)courageous, daring
- جسورانه (jasurâne)courageous, daring
- پررنگ (porrang)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- ضخیم (zaxim)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Polish odważny, śmiały
- odważnycourageous, daring
- śmiałycourageous, daring
- tłustyhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- pogrubionyhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- wytłuszczonyhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Portuguese corajoso, bravo
- corajosocourageous, daring
- bravocourageous, daring
- audaciosocourageous, daring
- negritohaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Romanian temerar, gras
- temerarcourageous, daring
- grashaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- aldinhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Russian сме́лый, хра́брый
- сме́лый (smélyj)courageous, daring
- хра́брый (xrábryj)courageous, daring
- отва́жный (otvážnyj)courageous, daring
- реши́тельный (rešítelʹnyj)courageous, daring
- жи́рный (žírnyj)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- полужи́рный (polužírnyj)having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Scottish Gaelic dàna, trom
- dànacourageous, daring
- tromhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Slovak smelý, odvážny
- smelýcourageous, daring
- odvážnycourageous, daring
- opovážlivýcourageous, daring
- trúfalýcourageous, daring
Spanish denodado, negrita
- denodadocourageous, daring
- negritahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- negrillahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- egipciahaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Swedish modig, djärv
- modigcourageous, daring
- djärvcourageous, daring
- fethaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- fetstilthaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
- fetstilhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Turkish cesur, kalın
- cesurcourageous, daring
- kalınhaving thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface
Vietnamese dũng cảm, can đảm
- dũng cảmcourageous, daring
- can đảmcourageous, daring
- gan dạcourageous, daring
Yiddish מוטיק, דרייסט
- מוטיק (mutik)courageous, daring
- דרייסט (dreyst)courageous, daring
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bold
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
bold. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bold
“bold.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bold. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bold,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bold.
Source: bold on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.