cour ‧ age S3 /ˈkʌrɪdʒ $ ˈkɜːr-/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: corage , from cuer 'heart' , from Latin cor ]
1 . the quality of being brave when you are facing a difficult or dangerous situation, or when you are very ill ⇨ bravery OPP cowardice :
Sue showed great courage throughout her illness.
courage to do something
Gradually I lost the courage to speak out about anything.
He did not have the courage to tell Nicola that he was ending their affair.
summon/pluck up the courage (to do something) (=find the courage to do something)
I plucked up the courage to go out by myself.
Driving again after his accident must have taken a lot of courage (=needed courage) .
2 . have the courage of your (own) convictions to continue to say or do what you think is right even when other people may not agree or approve
⇨ ↑ Dutch courage
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ have courage
She certainly has a lot of courage.
▪ show courage
The pilot showed great skill and courage.
▪ summon (up)/muster your courage (=make yourself feel brave)
Summoning all her courage, she got up to see what the noise was.
▪ bolster your courage (=make it stronger)
They sang and whistled as they marched, to bolster their courage.
▪ sb’s courage fails (=is not great enough to do something)
I was going to jump but my courage failed at the last moment.
▪ something gives you courage (=makes you feel that you have courage)
My mother nodded, which gave me the courage to speak up.
■ phrases
▪ have the courage to do something
I didn’t have the courage to say what I really thought.
▪ find the courage to do something
You must find the courage to deal with the problem.
▪ pluck up/screw up the courage to do something (=try to find it)
He was trying to pluck up the courage to end their relationship.
▪ lack the courage to do something
He lacked the courage to look her full in the face.
▪ It takes courage to do something/sth takes courage (=needs courage)
It takes courage to make a big change in your life like that.
■ adjectives
▪ great courage
The men had fought with great courage.
▪ enough/sufficient courage
Harry plucked up enough courage to ask her out.
▪ personal courage (=the courage of one particular person)
Her recovery owed a great deal to her personal courage.
▪ moral courage (=the courage to do the right thing)
He said his faith gave him the moral courage to survive his ordeal.
▪ physical courage (=the courage to do something physically dangerous or difficult)
It seemed strange that someone of great physical courage could be so unsure of himself in other ways.
▪ political courage (=the courage to take risks in politics)
Do our politicians have the political courage to make unpopular decisions?
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THESAURUS
▪ courage the quality of being brave when you are facing a difficult or dangerous situation, or when you are very ill:
the courage of the soldiers
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She showed great courage throughout her illness.
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He finally plucked up the courage (=found the courage) to ask her for a date.
▪ bravery courage in a dangerous or frightening situation, especially when you are fighting in a war:
He won a medal for bravery during the Iraq war.
▪ guts informal the courage and determination to do something difficult or unpleasant:
It must have taken a lot of guts for him to say that.
▪ heroism very great courage in a dangerous situation:
The President praised the heroism of the firefighters.