bravado

His buffoonish bravado and frequent failures alienate everyone who is not completely in his camp.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Ms. Champlin reveals the bruised heart beneath the bravado Cheryl-Ann projects.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Buzz’s “To infinity and beyond” catchphrase connotes adventure and exploration, and the character’s journey from self-serious bravado to emotional vulnerability has given him a superpower far greater than the ability to fly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

“We anticipate more of these bouts of bravado to dictate the region for a while as both sides claim they are winning and neither is willing to be seen as disadvantaged,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026

“That wicked boy. I hate him! But he is no match for me,” I said with a feigned bravado.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

And so saying, under sufferance of being small, the plenipo was permitted to depart unmolested; for all his bravadoes, fobbing his credentials and affronts.

From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II by Herman Melville

The ancient enmity between these, princes broke out anew in bravadoes, and in personal insults on each other, ill becoming persons of their rank, and still less suitable to men of such unquestioned bravery.

From The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. From Henry VII. to Mary by David Hume

She kept a little apart with Bartley, and plied him with bravadoes, with pouts, with little cries of suspense.

From A Modern Instance by William Dean Howells

His expressed contempt and defiance of the world, reminds me of the bravadoes of children, who, afraid of darkness, make a noise to give themselves courage to support what they dread.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 20, No. 565, September 8, 1832 by Various

But let us still resist him; for notwithstanding all his bravadoes, he promoteth the fool and none else.

From The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come, delivered under the similitude of a dream, by John Bunyan by John Bunyan

It would be interesting to stare defiantly at his enemy at close range, to speak with him again man to man, to lure him into further bravados.

From Broken to the Plow by Charles Caldwell Dobie

They made many bravados, daily shooting off forty, fifty, or sixty pieces of ordnance at Nero and Puloway, thinking to frighten us.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09 Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time by Robert Kerr

He must use his poetic powers as wonders attesting the purpose for which he speaks—not as mere bravados of ostentatious power.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. by Various

She makes sorties and attacks, she endeavours to hide her weakness by her bravados, and when she replies most disdainfully to a summons to capitulate, is perhaps on the eve of surrender.

From At Agincourt by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

Next to being raided by the sheriff of an adjacent county, having a river prophet come on board is the greatest excitement and the smartest amusement of the bravados down the river.

From The River Prophet by Ralph P. (Ralph Pallen) Coleman