brazen
/ˈbɹæ̝ɪ̯zən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.10 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Brass-like in appearance or character; bright, ruddy, hard.
verb
Generally followed by out or through: to carry through in a brazen manner; to act boldly despite embarrassment, risk, etc.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Brazen or rather copper swords seem to have been next introduced; these in process of time, workmen learned to harden by the addition of some other metal or mineral, which rendered them almost equal in temper to iron."
- "And Moses made a brass image of the fiery serpents, and put it up on a pole, where all the people could see it; and when any one was bitten, he could look upon the brazen serpent, and was cured."
- "The women, stout, strong, brazen-faced creatures, in most cases looked able to thrash any of the partners with whom they consorted."
- "The vegetation was similar to that which covers the lawns of the red Martians of the great waterways, but the trees and birds were unlike anything that I had ever seen upon Mars, and then through the further trees I could see that most un-Martian of all sights—an open sea, its blue waters shimmering beneath the brazen sun."
- "Through the brazen hours that followed high noon, we crept onwards through a tunnel of glittering verdure."
- "And now the Trumpets terribly from far, / With rattling Clangor, rouze the sleepy War. / The Souldiers Shouts succeed the Brazen Sounds, / And Heav'n, from Pole to Pole, the Noise rebounds."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbɹæ̝ɪ̯zən/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more brazen (comparative)
brazener (comparative)
most brazen (superlative)
brazenest (superlative)
brasen (alternative)
brazens (present, singular)
brazening (participle, present)
brazened (participle, past)
brazened (past)