What's the difference between brave and plucky?

Brave


Definition:

  • (superl.) Bold; courageous; daring; intrepid; -- opposed to cowardly; as, a brave man; a brave act.
  • (superl.) Having any sort of superiority or excellence; -- especially such as in conspicuous.
  • (superl.) Making a fine show or display.
  • (n.) A brave person; one who is daring.
  • (n.) Specifically, an Indian warrior.
  • (n.) A man daring beyond discretion; a bully.
  • (n.) A challenge; a defiance; bravado.
  • (v. t.) To encounter with courage and fortitude; to set at defiance; to defy; to dare.
  • (v. t.) To adorn; to make fine or showy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) They were preceded by the publication of The Success and Failure of Picasso (1965) and Art and Revolution: Ernst Neizvestny and the Role of the Artist in the USSR (1969); in one, he made a hopeless mess of Picasso’s later career, though he was not alone in this; in the other, he elevated a brave dissident artist beyond his talents.
  • (2) The Dodgers and Braves are tied 1-1 in the third inning and the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A's ALDS will start at 9:37pm EST.
  • (3) It is because of those brave people that we owe our lives to them.
  • (4) "My wonderful, brave and adored father, Jack Ashley, Lord Ashley of Stoke, has died after a short battle with pneumonia."
  • (5) But the overall drownings seem to be going up and I don’t know if it’s older people, if it’s young men being more brave around water.” Lawrence suggested children may be failing to continue swimming and water safety education once they have basic skills.
  • (6) In fact the aim for many of those braving increasingly chilly nights inside the tents is to be here until Christmas at least.
  • (7) Brain injury from a stroke has an impact on many families in the UK, so this film is not just brave and personal, it will speak to the broadest of audiences.
  • (8) From one of his hospital visits Marr recalls a woman, eight months pregnant, who had suffered a stroke: "There are people far worse off than me who are so incredibly brave and cheerful.
  • (9) Families picnic between games of crazy golf or volleyball, bathers brave the shallows, children splash in the saltwater lido.
  • (10) The artist bravely offers us a more inclusive idea of who and what constitutes kin.
  • (11) Westwood came within an inch of clawing back a shot with a firm, brave putt, but went to the 16th having to birdie his way to the clubhouse to pull off a minor miracle.
  • (12) 2.36pm GMT Still on the luge, Italy’s Armin Zoeggler is praised for “brave sliding” but can’t improve on third place.
  • (13) Our team began 81 years ago – in 1932 – with the name "Boston Braves."
  • (14) But they were brave because they were risking future ministerial careers."
  • (15) "Let me assure you that our brave sentinels on the border will address any issue that happens on the border," said the foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin.
  • (16) It was a particularly brave – or rash – thing to say given that South Carolina is one of the most heavily militarised states in America and is peppered with military bases .
  • (17) Something certainly shifted: perhaps it was a combination of Dave’s reassurance, the hypnosis and seeing my fellow phobics so bravely facing their fears that eventually had an effect.
  • (18) She wouldn't name names, but said: "What male MPs from similar areas to Bradford and Keighley would say to me from time to time was, 'Oh, you're so brave taking up these issues' – either forced marriages or grooming of girls.
  • (19) First, Owen doesn’t mention the most common explanation for this rightwards movement, but it still seems true that, as many people grow older, not only do they lose the brave idealism of their youth, they come to feel they have much more to lose, far more invested in conserving the status quo: homes and property, maybe shares and savings, children etc.
  • (20) The situation today is that artists have to be brave.

Plucky


Definition:

  • (superl.) Having pluck or courage; characterized by pluck; displaying pluck; courageous; spirited; as, a plucky race.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When asked why the streets of London were not heaving with demonstrators protesting against Russia turning Aleppo into the Guernica of our times, Stop the War replied that it had no wish to add to the “jingoism” politicians were whipping up against plucky little Russia .
  • (2) Behind the sedately revolving capsules of the London Eye, plucky local resident George Turner has been holding another gargantuan development machine to account in a David-and-Goliath planning battle that reached the High Court.
  • (3) Whereas England was in retreat, Spain was widely admired as a nation of plucky fighters who had just conquered the Muslim kingdom of Granada.
  • (4) Despite its environmental projects and its philanthropic arm, the perception of Google is slowly morphing from plucky David to sinister Goliath.
  • (5) "The BBC are the Germans of this tournament, slick and reliable, and ITV are the plucky Costa Ricans who gave us some great moments even if they don't get to lift the trophy," said Ben Preston, editor of Radio Times.
  • (6) Misguided attempts by well-wishers to literally or metaphorically pat her on the back and praise her "pluckiness" are given short shrift.
  • (7) Indeed, read the “illustrative” examples the DWP provides in the consultation document – a hypothetical 58-year-old woman with osteoarthritis who “uses the sink for support when getting off the toilet, dresses sitting down and wears slip-on shoes for ease” – and it is easy to get the impression that what disabled people need is just a plucky attitude rather than social security.
  • (8) I'm tempted as I think Liverpool might bottle it against Newcastle, Chelsea should see off an awful Cardiff team and even though plucky little City will probably get a drubbing against Big Sam's claret and blue army they'll still finish first.
  • (9) It’s an intentionally ridiculous solution to a ridiculous problem.” Another plucky Dutch designer thinks he can turn the pollution into a lucrative commodity.
  • (10) The country they love no longer exists, except in Ealing comedies – my favourite one of which is Passport to Pimlico (1949), in which plucky Londoners paradoxically demonstrate their Britishness by seceding from the British state.
  • (11) As if to reinforce the image of "plucky Georgia" fighting against the odds, there have been TV images of the Georgian president, wearing a flak jacket, bundled away by his security guards during a visit to Gori as Russian aircraft buzzed overhead.
  • (12) We hear it today at its coarsest when English football fans sing about “ Ten German bombers ” shot down by plucky British fighters, and then chant, “ Fuck off Europe, we’re all voting out .” Not that myth-making is uniquely British.
  • (13) MC PREDICTION: Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Czech Republic GROUP E REP IRELAND Almost a stereotypically plucky team hiding major weaknesses, particularly in goal, but a victory over Germany and a two-leg win against Bosnia shows Martin O’Neill’s side are capable of shocking better sides.
  • (14) May talk about Liverpool, too 9.15am Below the line, Chaval asks: "Sean, I'm of a mind to back the plucky Danish resistance to hang on for a draw against a languid Dutch side today, at odds not too shy of 3-1.
  • (15) Jim Murphy earns respect for his plucky fight to defend a third of seats that might be held, but Labour’s Scots identity crisis runs deep.
  • (16) But she was a real optimist with a plucky attitude.
  • (17) And rather than being the product of a dynamic free market and individual plucky entrepreneurs, their technological success owes everything to the public sector.
  • (18) But for a thrusting young company eager to blow up a traditional market but without anything much in the way of an advertising budget, it seems no controversy – courted or not – that allows you to play the plucky but oppressed newcomer, eager only to get on and do your thing, will do you much harm.
  • (19) Record heights But Setanta, named after a plucky Celtic warrior, leapt into the big league when European competition authorities forced the Premier League to open up the way it sells its rights.
  • (20) My own first encounter with Norfolk in literature came in the form of the heroic and crime-solving adventures of Arthur Ransome's Coot Club , a plucky little gang of boys and girls who live around Horning on the Norfolk Broads, in the Swallows and Amazons series of novels, a world as far from my own upbringing as was imaginable.