


Impudence disregards what is due to superiors shamelessness defies decency. Effrontery (Latin effrons, barefaced, shameless) adds to audacity and hardihood the special element of defiance of considerations of propriety, duty, and respect for others, yet not to the extent implied in impudence or shamelessness. Hardihood defies and disregards the rational judgment of men. Audacity, in the sense here considered, is a reckless defiance of law, decency, public opinion, or personal rights, claims, or views, approaching the meaning of impudence or shamelessness, but always carrying the thought of the personal risk that one disregards in such defiance the merely impudent or shameless person may take no thought of consequences the audacious person recognizes and recklessly braves them.
