Standard Lemma guide

bodacious

adj · adv · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /boʊˈdeɪʃəs/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Audacious and unrestrained.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Incorrigible and insolent.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

Examples

  • You, sir, are a bodacious scoundrel.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Impressively great in size, and enormous; extraordinary.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, US, slang

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Sexy, attractive.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adv

Meaning 5

Bodaciously.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, nonstandard

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective satellite

Meaning 6

unrestrained by convention or propriety- Los Angeles Times- Bertrand Russell

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • an audacious trick to pull
  • a barefaced hypocrite
  • the most bodacious display of tourism this side of Anaheim
  • bald-faced lies
  • brazen arrogance
  • the modern world with its quick material successes and insolent belief in the boundless possibilities of progress

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: audacious, barefaced, bald-faced, brassy, brazen, brazen-faced, insolent

Antonyms: none provided

7

adjective satellite

Meaning 7

incorrigible

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a bodacious gossip

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

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.

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: brutaal — audacious and unrestrained
  • Dutch: baldadig — audacious and unrestrained
  • German: unverfroren — audacious and unrestrained
  • German: dreist — audacious and unrestrained
  • Polish: chojracki — audacious and unrestrained
  • Polish: ryzykancki — audacious and unrestrained
  • Polish: śmiały — audacious and unrestrained
  • Polish: zuchwały — audacious and unrestrained
  • Dutch: stout — uncorrigible and insolent
  • Dutch: brutaal — uncorrigible and insolent
  • German: rüde — uncorrigible and insolent
  • German: beleidigend — uncorrigible and insolent
  • German: unverbesserlich — uncorrigible and insolent
  • Polish: bezczelny — uncorrigible and insolent
  • Polish: śmiały — uncorrigible and insolent
  • Polish: zuchwały — uncorrigible and insolent
  • Dutch: enorm — great in size
  • German: groß — great in size
  • Polish: ogromny — great in size
  • Polish: wielki — great in size
  • Dutch: aantrekkelijk — attractive
  • Dutch: sexy — attractive
  • German: attraktiv — attractive
  • German: sexy — attractive
  • Polish: seksowny — attractive
  • Polish: sexy — attractive