bodacious
/boʊˈdeɪʃəs/adjective, adverb
bodacious is spelled B-O-D-A-C-I-O-U-S: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 74,122nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bodacious means “Audacious and unrestrained” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bodacious?
| Letters | 9: B-O-D-A-C-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 74,122nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is bodacious?
Bodacious appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 74,122nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce bodacious?
- /boʊˈdeɪʃəs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: EN-AU_ck1_bodacious.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of bodacious
- more bodacious comparative
- most bodacious superlative
- bardacious
- boldacious
- bowdacious
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bodacious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
USAudacious and unrestrained.
If you’re going to lie, you might as well tell a bodacious lie.
- 2
USIncorrigible and insolent.
You, sir, are a bodacious scoundrel.
- 3
AustraliaUSslangImpressively great in size, and enormous; extraordinary.
Twenty meters in diameter to match the bore of the huge Japanese ore drilling machines, the floor had been leveled by an equally bodacious milling robot, and the shiny metallic walls seemed to stretch on to infinity.
- 4
Sexy, attractive.
adverb
- 1
USnonstandardBodaciously.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bodacious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | unverfroren, dreist , rüde, beleidigend, unverbesserlich , groß |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does bodacious come from?
Southern American slang, implied by bodaciously, 1837, either from bodyaciously (“bodily, totally, root and branch”, antebellum South Carolina) or a blend of bold and audacious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).