different between opaque vs brazen

English

Alternative forms

• opake (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English opake, from Latin opacus (“shaded, shady, dark”) (of unknown origin), later reinforced from Middle French opaque. Doublet of ubac.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???pe?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /o??pe?k/
• Rhymes: -e?k

Adjective

opaque (comparative more opaque or opaquer, superlative most opaque or opaquest) (see usage notes)

1. Neither reflecting nor emitting light.
2. Allowing little light to pass through, not translucent or transparent.
3. (figuratively) Unclear, unintelligible, hard to get or explain the meaning of
4. (figuratively) Obtuse, stupid.
5. (computing) Describes a type for which higher-level callers have no knowledge of data values or their representations; all operations are carried out by the type's defined abstract operators.

Usage notes

• The comparative opaquer and superlative opaquest, though formed following valid rules for English, are much less common than more opaque and most opaque and seem to occur more frequently in poetry.
• Most opaque has been more common than opaquest for at least two centuries and 50 to 100 times more common in the last two decades, according to this Google Ngram comparison.

Antonyms

• (physically): see-through, translucent, transparent
• (figuratively): clear, obvious, bright, brilliant

Derived terms

• opaquely
• opaqueness
• radiopaque

Related terms

• opacity

Translations

Noun

opaque (plural opaques)

1. (obsolete, poetic) An area of darkness; a place or region with no light.
   • 1745, Edward Young, Night-Thoughts, I:

     Through this opaque of Nature and of Soul, / This double night, transmit one pitying ray, / To lighten, and to cheer.

2. Something which is opaque rather than translucent.

Translations

Verb

opaque (third-person singular simple present opaques, present participle opaquing, simple past and past participle opaqued)

1. (transitive) To make, render (more) opaque.

Synonyms

• blur
• cloud

Translations

See also

• translucent

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “opaque”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin op?cus (“shaded, shady, dark”), itself of unknown origin. Doublet of ubac.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?.pak/

Adjective

opaque (plural opaques)

1. opaque

   Antonyms: transparent, translucide

Derived terms

• opacifier
  • opacification
• opacité
• opaquement

Further reading

• “opaque” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Adjective

opaque m or f (plural opaques)

1. opaque

Spanish

Verb

opaque

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of opacar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of opacar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of opacar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of opacar.

English

Alternative forms

• brasen

Etymology

From Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen (“brazen, of brass”); equivalent to brass +? -en (compare golden).

The word originally meant “of brass”; the figurative verb sense (as in brazen it out (“face impudently”)) dates from the 1550s (perhaps evoking the sense “face like brass, unmoving and not showing shame”), and the adjective sense “impudent” from the 1570s. Compare bold as brass.

Pronunciation

• enPR: br?z?n, IPA^(key): /?b?e?z?n/
• Rhymes: -e?z?n
• Hyphenation: braz?en

Adjective

brazen (comparative more brazen, superlative most brazen)

1. (archaic) Pertaining to, made of, or resembling brass (in color or strength).
   • 1786, Francis Grose, Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, London: Printed for S. Hooper […], OCLC 745209064; republished as Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army, from the Conquest to the Present Time, volume II, new [2nd] edition with material additions and improvements, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […]; & G. Kearsley, […], 1801, OCLC 435979550, page 262:

     Brazen or rather copper swords seem to have been next introduced; these in process of time, workmen learned to harden by the addition of some other metal or mineral, which rendered them almost equal in temper to iron.
2. Sounding harsh and loud, like brass cymbals or brass instruments.
   • 1697, Virgil; John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse; […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 839376905; republished as The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse by Mr. Dryden. In Three Volumes, volume III, 5th edition, London: Printed by Jacob Tonson […], 1721, OCLC 181805247, book IX, page 822, lines 667–670:

     And now the Trumpets terribly from far, / With rattling Clangor, rouze the sleepy War. / The Souldiers Shouts succeed the Brazen Sounds, / And Heav'n, from Pole to Pole, the Noise rebounds.
3. (archaic) Extremely strong; impenetrable; resolute.
4. Shamelessly shocking and offensive; audacious; impudent; barefaced; immodest, unblushing. [from 1570s.]

Derived terms

• brazen age
• brazen bull
• brazenface
• brazen-faced
• brazen sea
• brazenly
• brazenness

Translations

See also

• effrontery

Verb

brazen (third-person singular simple present brazens, present participle brazening, simple past and past participle brazened)

1. (intransitive) To turn a brass color.
2. (transitive) Generally followed by out or through: to carry through in a brazen manner; to act boldly despite embarrassment, risk, etc. [from 1550s.]

Derived terms

• brazen it out

Translations

References