audacia

See also: audácia

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin audācia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /awˈda.t͡ʃa/
• Rhymes: -atʃa
• Hyphenation: au‧dà‧cia

Noun

audacia f (plural audacie)

1. daring, audacity
2. boldness
3. provocativeness

Related terms

• audace

Latin

Etymology

audāx (“bold, daring”) +‎ -ia

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [au̯ˈdaː.ki.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [au̯ˈdaː.t͡ʃi.a]

Noun

audācia f (genitive audāciae); first declension

1. The state or quality of being bold; boldness.
2. Daring, intrepidity; courage, valor, confidence; a daring or courageous action.

   Synonyms: animōsitās, cōnfīdentia, virtūs

3. Daring, audacity, impetuosity, impudence, recklessness, rashness, presumption, insolence, temerity; a reckless or audacious action.

   Synonym: temeritās

   • 63 BCE, Cicero, Catiline Orations 1:

     Quem ad fīnem sēsē effrēnāta iactābit audācia?

     To what end will your unbridled audacity flaunt itself?

Usage notes

Audācia only properly renders a sense of courage, valor or confidence in connection to risk-taking; when used in these senses there is a quality of reckless action implied. To render "courage" in the sense of an innate human quality, animōsitās is better. To render confidence in a similar sense, use cōnfīdentia.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	audācia	audāciae
genitive	audāciae	audāciārum
dative	audāciae	audāciīs
accusative	audāciam	audāciās
ablative	audāciā	audāciīs
vocative	audācia	audāciae

Synonyms

• (courage): audentia, fortitūdō, mēns, mīlitia, virtūs

Related terms

• audāciter
• audacter
• audāculus

Descendants

• Catalan: audàcia
• French: audace
• Galician: audacia
• Italian: audacia
• → Portuguese: audácia
• Romanian: audacie
• Spanish: audacia

References

• “audacia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “audacia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "audacia", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “audacia”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin audācia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /auˈdaθja/ [au̯ˈð̞a.θja] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /auˈdasja/ [au̯ˈð̞a.sja] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aθja (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• Rhymes: -asja (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: au‧da‧cia

Noun

audacia f (plural audacias)

1. audacity, boldness, daring

   Synonyms: atrevimiento, osadía

Related terms

• audaz

Further reading

• “audacia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025