brazen

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb face with defiance or impudence
  2. adjective unrestrained by convention or propriety; ; ; - Los Angeles Times; ; ; - Bertrand Russell
  3. adjective made of or resembling brass (as in color or hardness)

Etymology

From Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen (“brazen, of brass”); equivalent to brass + -en (compare golden, wooden, etc.). The word originally meant “of brass”; the figurative verb sense (as in brazen it out (“face impudently”)) dates from the 1550s (perhaps evoking the sense “face like brass, unmoving and not showing shame”), and the adjective sense “impudent” from the 1570s. Compare brass neck, bold as brass.

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