brash
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /bɹæʃ/
rhymes: -æʃ
Forms: form: brasher
form: more brash
form: brashest
form: most brash
Etymology: Uncertain. Perhaps from Scots brash, brasch (“a violent onset; an attack or assault”). Perhaps also related to Dutch bars (“stern; strict”), German barsch (“harsh; unfriendly”), Danish barsk (“harsh; rough; tough”), Swedish barsk (“harsh; impetuous”).
Senses: examples: text: a brash young businessman; a brash tabloid; a brash sense of humour
text: Mrs. Mayfield looked away, and the girl stricken with remorse, hastened to her and said: “There, I have been too brash, haven’t I? You must forgive me for I didn’t intend to be brash.”
“Brash, my dear? What do you mean by that?”
She laughed. “Why, I thought everybody know’d what brash meant. Well, it’s er—too quick to say somethin’ you oughtn’t to say.”
ref: 1902, Opie Read, The Starbucks, Chicago: Laird & Lee, Chapter, page 210:
text: Trouble with Silzer is, he’s too brash—shoots off his mouth too much—likes to hear himself talk.
ref: 1925, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 17, in Arrowsmith:
text: The American’s brash unconcern for nuance indicates a young and vigorous country, the Briton’s clipped speech an ancient, proverbial reserve.
ref: 1958, Peter De Vries, chapter 14, in Mackerel Plaza, Penguin, published 1986, page 209:
text: Edusco liked him, he could tell; he imagined Edusco talking about him in a gathering of other self-made Igbo men, men who were brash and striving, who juggled huge businesses and supported vast extended families.
ref: 2013, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, chapter 54, in Americanah, New York: Knopf:
synonyms: audacious
brassy
brazen
cocky
undiplomatic
glosses: Overly bold or self-assertive to the point of being insensitive, tactless or impudent; shameless.
raw_tags: of people or behaviour
examples: text: […] just because you’re a little hot under the collar, don’t do anything brash, for fear you may regret it afterward.
ref: 1905, Andy Adams, chapter 2, in The Outlet, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, page 22:
text: Now, Mr. Reed, you’ve committed nothing but a brash act of bad taste by bypassing the standard channels.
ref: 1960 April, George O. Smith, “The Troublemakers”, in Galaxy Science Fiction, volume 18, number 4, page 156:
synonyms: foolhardy
reckless
glosses: Overly bold, impetuous or rash.
raw_tags: of actions
examples: text: brash colours
text: a brash perfume
text: 1963, Ian Fleming, Thrilling Cities, London: Jonathan Cape, Chapter 1, “Hong Kong,”
There are scores of brash and noisy bars along Lockhart Street and in Wanchai and North Point (on the island) and throughout the back lanes of Kowloon […]
text: The driveway is filled with vehicles parked bumper to bumper and the house is lit up like I’ve never seen it before, brash yellow light streaming from every window on every floor, and the tinny, nasal sound of gramophone jazz trumpeting inside.
ref: 1996, Guy Vanderhaeghe, chapter 24, in The Englishman’s Boy, New York: Picador, published 1998, page 243:
text: 2001, Walt Dohrn et al. “Artist Unknown”, SpongeBob SquarePants, season 2, episode 18b, Nickelodeon
Squidward: How about this one? I call it, Bold and Brash.
Art Curator: More like, belongs in the trash!
text: Sadly, by the 1970s the arcade had gone downmarket with brash shop fronts and cheap shops, some of doubtful reputation.
ref: 2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Great Western Railway Craft Skills Award: Victoria Arcade”, in RAIL, number 946, page 59:
synonyms: word: flashy
word: garish
word: loud
word: splashy
word: bedizened
word: blatant
word: blingish
word: brash
word: catchpenny
word: chichi
word: chintzy
word: crass
word: crude
word: flashy
word: flaunting
word: florid
word: flossy
word: froufrou
word: garish
word: gauche
word: gaudy
word: gay
word: glaring
word: gross
word: gussied up
word: hideous
word: kitschy
word: loud
word: meretricious
word: obtrusive
word: ostentatious
word: pizazzy
word: pretentious
word: ritzy
word: raffish
word: showy
word: snazzy
word: splendiferous
word: tacky
word: tasteless
word: tawdry
word: tinselly
word: too much
word: unbecoming
word: untasteful
word: vain
word: whorish
word: zesty
glosses: Bold, bright or showy, often in a tasteless way.
raw_tags: of things
Derived terms: brashly
brashness
brashy
unbrash