courage
/ˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ noun, verb
Forms courages couraging couraged
- noun The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate. “It takes a lot of courage to be successful in business.”
- noun The ability to overcome one's fear, do or live things which one finds frightening. “He plucked up the courage to tell her how he felt.”
- noun The ability to maintain one's will or intent despite either the experience of fear, frailty, or frustration; or the occurrence of adversity, difficulty, defeat or reversal; moral fortitude.
- verb (obsolete) To encourage.
Synonyms
audacity balls bield boldhead boldness bravehood valor braveness bravery courageousness daring fearlessness grit guts heart intrepidity intrepidness mood nerve ovaries
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English corage, from Old French corage (French courage), from Vulgar Latin *corāticum, from Latin cor (“heart”). Distantly related to cardiac (“of the heart”), which is from Greek, but from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Displaced Middle English elne, ellen, from Old English ellen (“courage, valor”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The heart; spirit; temper; disposition. [Obs.]
- noun Heart; inclination; desire; will. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- verb To inspire with courage. [Obs.]
Etymology [OE. corage heart, mind, will, courage, OF. corage, F. courage, fr. a LL. derivative of L. cor heart. See Heart.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “courage”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details