chutzpah

plural chutzpahs · alternative hutzpah · alternative khutzpah · alternative khutspah · alternative chutspa · alternative chutspah · alternative chutzpa · alternative khutspe

1. informaluncountableusuallyNearly arrogant courage; utter audacity, effrontery or impudence; supreme self-confidence; exaggerated self-opinion.

   If the service is rotten and the meal a disaster, we should withhold a tip and explain why we are doing so. Few of us have the chutzpah to do this.

   2007 January 22, Philip Howard, “Modern Manners”, in The Times

   2 more examples

   But seriously, the ability to just come out and put on a placard that the Jurassic era is temporally contiguous with the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt — well, there’s a word for that, and that word is chutzpah.

   2007 December 11, John Scalzi, “Your Creation Museum Report”, in Whatever

   Okay, okay, okay… First of all, “shutspah” is actually pronounced “khootspah”. But, but-but-but the idea, the idea that daily fantasy sites are using this law to claim they’re not gambling is not chutzpah, it’s khorseshit!

   2015, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Daily Fantasy Sports”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 34, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO

   Synonyms: balls, cheek, gall, nerve, boldness, audacity, insolence