adj. 1
Courageous, daring.
Bold deeds win admiration and, sometimes, medals.
adj. 2
Visually striking; conspicuous.
the painter's bold use of colour and outline
adj. 3
Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.
Many bold fonts are available on this computer.
v. 1
To make (a font or some text) bold.
Please bold all these subheads.

Related words

Word family: boldface bold-faced boldly boldship bolden boldness
Phrases: make bold

Forms

Past participle: bolded
e.g. bolded → boldfaced, emboldened…

Choose the right word

Bold, Adventurous, Brave or Chivalrous?

The adventurous man goes in quest of danger; the bold man stands out and faces danger or censure; the brave man combines confidence with resolution in presence of danger; the chivalrous man puts himself in peril for others' protection.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

brave When it comes to war, they are as brave as anyone.
daring What's the most daring thing you've ever done?
courageous Tom told Mary that he thought John was courageous.
audacious Only an audacious mind will be able to solve this riddle.
abrupt Sami's idyllic country life came to an abrupt end.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
bold		rising
brave		rising
daring		rising
courageous		steady
audacious		rising
abrupt		steady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: rude¹
5 letters: brave¹, steep¹, sheer¹, hardy², bluff¹, gutsy²
6 letters: heroic³, daring², cheeky², abrupt², brazen², brassy²
7 letters: forward², valiant², defiant³, salient³
8 letters: striking², reckless², fearless², intrepid³, insolent³, impudent, embolden³, boldface²
9 letters: confident³, prominent³, audacious³, dauntless
10 letters: courageous³
11 letters: independent⁴, adventurous⁴, conspicuous⁴, precipitous⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (hardy² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: hardi
Italiano: audace
Español: atrevido
Deutsch: kühn
Català: impertinent