bodacious
/boʊˈdeɪʃəs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.21 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Impressively great in size, and enormous; extraordinary.
Australian usage; American usage; Slang
adj
Example Sentences
- "If you’re going to lie, you might as well tell a bodacious lie."
- "1898, Emma M. Bachus, “Tales of the Rabbit from Georgia Negroes” in Journal of American Folk-Lore (Vol 12, No 45), page 115. Google Book page link. Then that bodacious Brer Rabbit, he go softly through the bresh, and just creep inside that pig and lay hisself down, and he lay out to keep he eye open and watch out for the cart, but ’fore he know hisself he fall asleep."
- "As far as I was concerned, the Panthers were ‘baaaaaad’. The Party was more than bad; it was bodacious. The sheer audacity of walking onto the California Senate floor with rifles, demanding that Black people have the right to bear arms and the right to self-defense, made me sit back and take a long look at them."
- "Bodacious living is evident everywhere, but it's easy not to notice the remarkable people and happenings that are present all around."
- "Modestly titled ‘Appeal’ with a more particular subtitle, Walker’s text was probably the most bodacious expression of cultural discontent and disavowal of slavery that American society had ever known."
- "You, sir, are a bodacious scoundrel."
Etymology
Southern American slang, implied by bodaciously, 1837, either from bodyaciously (“bodily, totally, root and branch”, antebellum South Carolina) or a blend of bold and audacious.
Usage
- American usage
- Australian usage
- Slang
Inflected Forms
more bodacious (comparative)
most bodacious (superlative)
bardacious (alternative)
boldacious (alternative)
bowdacious (alternative)