Definition of BOLD

bold

Plural: bolds

Noun

  • Boldface type; text printed in thick, dark characters.
  • a typeface with thick heavy lines
  • A dwelling; habitation; building.

Adjective

  • Showing an ability to take risks; courageous and daring.
  • fearless and daring
    • "bold settlers on some foreign shore"
    • "a bold speech"
    • "a bold adventure"

Adjective Satellite

  • clear and distinct
    • "bold handwriting"
    • "a figure carved in bold relief"
    • "a bold design"
  • very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
    • "where the bold chalk cliffs of England rise"

Adj

  • Courageous, daring.
  • Visually striking; conspicuous.
  • Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.
  • Presumptuous, forward or impudent.
  • Naughty; insolent; badly-behaved.
  • Full-bodied.
  • Pornographic; depicting nudity.
  • Steep or abrupt.

Verb

  • To make (a font or some text) bold.
  • To make bold or daring.
  • To become bold or brave.

Examples

  • All of her children are terribly bold and never do as they are told.
  • Bold deeds win admiration and, sometimes, medals.
  • Her BOLD play of "QUIXOTIC" on a triple word score earned a gasp from the other players.
  • In HTML, wrapping text in <b> and </b> tags produces bold text.
  • Many bold fonts are available on this computer.
  • Please bold all these subheads.
  • The government warned bus operators against continuing to show bold content on buses.
  • the painter's bold use of colour and outline
  • The word "BOLD" itself stood out as a strong play on the board.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“strong, bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē- (“to bloat, swell, bubble”).
Cognate with Dutch boud (“bold, courageous, fearless”), Middle High German balt (“bold”) (whence German bald (“soon”)), Swedish båld (“bold, dauntless”). Perhaps related to Albanian ballë (“forehead”) and Old Prussian balo (“forehead”). For semantic development compare Italian affrontare (“to face, to deal with”), sfrontato (“bold, daring, insolent”), both from Latin frons (“forehead”).

Synonyms

bluff, bold face, boldface, sheer, audacious, boldface#Verb, brave, courageous, daring, doughty, embolden, embolden#Verb, forward

Antonyms

timid, ;, conservative, reluctant, risk-averse

Scrabble Score: 7

bold: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
bold: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
bold: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 9

bold: valid Words With Friends Word