Library / English Dictionary

COURAGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear

Synonyms:

braveness; bravery; courage; courageousness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("courage" is a kind of...):

spirit (a fundamental emotional and activating principle determining one's character)

Attribute:

brave; courageous (possessing or displaying courage; able to face and deal with danger or fear without flinching)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "courage"):

heart; mettle; nerve; spunk (the courage to carry on)

gallantry; heroism; valiance; valiancy; valor; valorousness; valour (the qualities of a hero or heroine; exceptional or heroic courage when facing danger (especially in battle))

dauntlessness; intrepidity (resolute courageousness)

Dutch courage (courage resulting from intoxication)

stoutheartedness (the trait of having a courageous spirit)

fearlessness (the trait of feeling no fear)

fortitude (strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity with courage)

Antonym:

cowardice (the trait of lacking courage)

Derivation:

courageous (possessing or displaying courage; able to face and deal with danger or fear without flinching)

Credits

 Context examples: 

With new courage, therefore, I pressed on, and in two days arrived at a wretched hamlet on the seashore.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I plucked up courage at once, crossed the threshold, and walked right up to the man where he stood, propped on his crutch, talking to a customer.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Will Hyde die upon the scaffold? or will he find courage to release himself at the last moment?

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Yes, truly, and they press hard upon the castle, for they are an exceeding multitude and full of courage.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Could it have been a man, Jim?” I asked, plucking up my courage now that I could hear the dogs barking on the farms.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Our official detectives may blunder in the matter of intelligence, but never in that of courage.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

However, after a while he summoned up courage and went forward.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I had no courage to think that at first, heavenly kind as was your welcome to me.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The first was a page so heavenly sweet—so deadly sad—that to read one line of it would dissolve my courage and break down my energy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I have as companions three remarkable men, men of great brain-power and of unshaken courage.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)