Adjective: brave
Comparison Forms
Synthetic
| Comparative | braver |
| Superlative | bravest |
Perifrastic
| Comparative | more brave |
| Superlative | most brave |
Sample Sentences
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For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne. [1578–1579, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale. [...] Dedicated to the Right Honorable the Ladie Compton and Mountegle”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. Whereof the Next Page Maketh Mention, London: Imprinted for VVilliam Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Bishops head, published 1591, →OCLC:]
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Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I need your help. [1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:]
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[…]he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity. [1987, Michael Grumley, The Last Diary:]
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Huntingdon's ferocity makes the reaction of staff all the more brave. To move towards danger when others are fleeing is the definition of bravery in my book. To place yourself in danger to protect others. [2025 November 12, Philip Haigh, “High praise for rail staff's courage and clear thinking”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 50:]
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Is it not paſſing braue to be a King,
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And ride in triumph through Perſepolis? [c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene v:]
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Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth. [1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Plantations”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:]
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It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall. [18 February 1666, Samuel Pepys, diary entry]
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Their plumed helmes are wrought with beaten golde,
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Their ſwords enameld, and about their neckes
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Hangs maſſie chaines of golde downe to the waſte,
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In euery part exceding braue and rich. [c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:]
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Wear my dagger with the braver grace. [c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:]
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For I have gold, and therefore will be brave. / In silks I'll rattle it of every color. [1611, John Cooke, Greene's Tu Quoque:]
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Frog and lizard in holiday coats / And turtle brave in his golden spots. [1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, May-Day:]
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So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,[…]a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams. [1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:]
Adjectives inflected like brave
serene,
severe,
secure,
sedate,
wheelie,
simple,
complete,
fulsome,
sprightlie,
discrete,
plosive,
bizarre,
brusque,
brittle,
wholesome,
sincere,
shystie,
loveable,
prophane,
terrible, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)
Etymology
From Middle French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself of uncertain origin (see there). Doublet of bravo. See: Italian Adjectives '
bravo'.