chutzpah
Sheer shameless audacity
Chutzpah is audacious nerve or gall—a brazen confidence that can be admirable or outrageous depending on context.
From Yiddish, it carries a sense of shameless boldness that defies normal social limits.
The classic illustration: someone who murders his parents, then begs the court for mercy because he's an orphan.
You have to admire her chutzpah, asking for a raise after three months.
Shameless, defiant boldness
- temerityReckless audacity
- effronteryShameless, insolent boldness
- impudenceShameless boldness toward superiors
- brashnessHasty, overconfident manner
boldness · gall · nerve · cheek · insolence · impertinence · presumptuousness · sassiness
brazenness
Shameless, defiant boldness
- temerityReckless audacity
- effronteryShameless, insolent boldness
- impudenceShameless boldness toward superiors
brashness · boldness · gall · nerve · cheek · insolence · impertinence · presumptuousness · sassiness · forwardness
guts
Entrails or boldness
grit · daring · fearlessness · bravery · mettle · backbone · fortitude · intrepidity · moxie · ballsiness
oy
Yiddish sigh of dismay
mensch · nosh · shtick · schmooze · schmaltz · kibitz · yenta · schlep · bupkis · nudnik
- audacityboldness, brazenness, audacity, gall, cheekiness
- borrowed wordschic, naive, passe, avant-garde, faux
- couragebravery, resilience, fearlessness, boldness, courage
- moxiespunk, guts, nerve, grit, pluck
- Yiddishkvetch, mensch, schlep, tchotchke, schmaltz
- AshkenaziYiddish, shtetl, klezmer, gefilte fish, challah
chutzpahtimidity
Fearful lack of courage
cowardice · faintheartedness · timorousness · fearfulness · pusillanimity
chutzpahdeference
Yielding to another's judgment
respectfulness · humility · modesty · courtesy · courteousness
chutzpahmodesty
Absence of vanity
humbleness · bashfulness · shyness · self-effacement · diffidence