Bravado is a noun which means a show of boldness, swagger. Bravado is evinced when one is self-confident with a feeling of boastfulness. Bravado may be displayed in order to mislead someone, false bravado is a pretense of courage and self-confidence, a simulation. Bravado enters the English language in the late 1500s from the Italian word bravata, meaning bragging or boasting. The preferred plural form is bravadoes, bravados is also considered correct. The use of the word bravado has steadily risen since its introduction into the English language.
Examples
And by essentially challenging the Royals to fight him if they didn’t like it, he had shown enough youthful bravado to make you wonder exactly what he was trying to accomplish. (The Hartford Courant)
China Party Investigator’s Bravado on Display in Leaked Internal Speech (The Epoch Times)
And hip-hop, at least since the Nineties, has been very aggressive and masculine, and with lots of bravado. (The Rolling Stone)
The other immediate aftermath of an attack like this is the clamorous bravado that kicks in. (The Guardian)
But for all fighter pilot bravado, the future of VFC-12 is not so certain. (The Navy Times)
As a politician, however, Obama surely knows there are times when public opinion needs to be reassured and emboldened by leaders who speak loudly and seem to be putting their foot down, even if it’s all false bravado and their policies don’t really change. (Haaretz)
We use it for false bravado, saying things online that we would never say to someone face to face. (The Quad-Cities Times)
Those surveyed also said that because the internet allows them to pretend to be someone else and portray false bravado and confidence, it makes the idea of cheating more palatable. (Marie Claire Magazine)