bravado

Etymology

From French bravade (“bragging or boasting”), from Italian bravata, from verb bravare (“brag, boast”), from bravo.

noun

1. A swaggering show of defiance or courage.
   The angry customer stood in the middle of the showroom and voiced his complaints with loud bravado.
   For a bravado he had the organ taken down and conveyed to his father's house, where he had it put up in the chamber where it now stands. It was also for a bravado that he played on it every day. But, by−and−by, the amount of time which he spent at it daily began to increase rapidly. 1891, Rosa Mulholland, The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly, page 12
   1990 Amy Longsdorf, K.T. Oslin: Personality, Wit and Style To Spare", The Morning Callhttp://articles.mcall.com/1990-08-11/entertainment/2758085_1_oslin-country-music-kt Songs like "Hey Bobby", and "Do Ya" drip with innuendo and sexual bravado.
   Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It’s all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely resolve and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear. 12 May 2019, Alex McLevy, “Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club
   The rise of SOS devices – satellite-synched gadgets that send a signal to rescue agencies when activated – give people bravado, Estrada says. “A lot of people carry these SOS devices and they think they can get into any trouble and they can get help,” he says, adding that he has seen more requests for assistance recently. 2023-02-11, Katharine Gammon, “A mountain of trouble? The draw – and danger – of California’s Mount Baldy”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
   No doubt there is fear despite the bravado, but there is also no significant loss of Ukrainian military cohesion. 2023-04-02, Dan Sabbagh, Ed Ram, “Surrounded and outgunned, Ukraine’s tank crews prepare for battle of Bakhmut”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
2. A false show of courage.
3. (obsolete) A swaggerer; a braggart.

verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To swagger; to brag.