Definition of "bravado" []

• Defiant or swaggering behavior: strove to prevent our courage from turning into bravado. (noun)
• A pretense of courage; a false show of bravery. (noun)
• A disposition toward showy defiance or false expressions of courage. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Also, Graham realized that the turning of her head and the waving of her arm was only partly in bravado, was more in aesthetic wisdom of the picture she composed, and was, most of all, sheer joy of daring and emprise of the blood and the flesh and the life that was she."
• "And they are given to the rulers and the ruling classes, not in bravado, not to frighten them, but for them to consider more deeply the spirit and nature of this world revolution."
• "Like most things about fake dr hunt, the bravado is transparently false."