bold
pronunciation
How to pronounce bold in British English:
UK [bəʊld]
How to pronounce bold in American English:
US [boʊld]
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- Noun:
- a typeface with thick heavy lines
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- Adjective:
- fearless and daring
- clear and distinct
- very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
Word Origin
- bold
- bold: [OE] In Old English, bold meant simply ‘brave’; the modern connotations of immodesty or presumptuousness do not seem to have developed until the 12th century. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *balthaz, based ultimately, it has been speculated, on Indo- European *bhel- ‘swell’ (the psychological link through ‘being puffed up’ via ‘adventurous courage’ to ‘audacity’ is scarcely far-fetched). If this is so it would mean bold is related to bellows, belly, billow, bolster, and possibly bellow and bell. The notion of impetuosity is perhaps retained in the related German bald ‘soon’.=> bell, bellows, belly, billow, bolster
- bold (adj.)
- Old English beald (West Saxon), bald (Anglian) "bold, brave, confident, strong," from Proto-Germanic *balthaz (cognates: Old High German bald "bold, swift," in names such as Archibald, Leopold, Theobald; Gothic balþei "boldness;" Old Norse ballr "frightful, dangerous"), perhaps from PIE *bhol-to- suffixed form of *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (see bole). Of flavors (coffee, etc.) from 1829. The noun meaning "those who are bold" is from c. 1300. Old French and Provençal baut "bold," Italian baldo "bold, daring, fearless" are Germanic loan-words.
Antonym
Example
- 1. A crisis requires a bold response .
- 2. After all , how could mankind progress without such bold enterprises ?
- 3. The new ideas man is certainly bold .
- 4. Maybe the first five words use small caps or bold .
- 5. Thrive in the face of adversity ; fortune favors the bold .