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The English language has no shortage of synonyms for brave. In fact, it even has two different such words from the same Latin verb, valēre ("to have strength"): valiant and valorous. Valiant is the older of the pair, borrowed from the Anglo-French adjective vaillant ("worthy, strong courageous") in the 1300s. Valorous followed in the 1400s, a combination of valor ("strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness")—another valēre descendent—and the adjective suffix -ous. (The form was inspired either by the Middle French word valeureux or the Medieval Latin word valōrōsus.) While the words can be used synonymously, valorous sometimes has an archaic or romantic ring, describing stout-hearted warriors of yore, while the more common word valiant describes soldiers as well as general kinds of bravery or effort.
Synonyms
Examples of valorous in a Sentence
The Editors, National Review, 9 Dec. 2024
Gladiator was a big, sentimental, sincere movie about the genuine and valorous camaraderie between men who risk their lives for each other.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
The season’s first episode and its later depiction of the Fall of Reach — a major moment in the game series — really captured the harrowing yet valorous essence of the Halo games despite not strictly following the game’s canon.
—Jay Peters, The Verge, 19 July 2024
Russian claims to Crimea draw from a deep well of historical mythologies that enshrine the region within narratives of religious identity, valorous militarism, and Soviet nostalgia.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 23 Feb. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near valorous
Cite this Entry
“Valorous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/valorous. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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valorous
adjective
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