Difference Between Courage vs Bravery
The difference between courage and bravery is minimal but significant. The two words might often get used as part of similar sentences but they relate to slightly different actions and circumstances.
Today we’re going to help you get to the bottom of this word debate and finally give you the understanding you need to use them as part of your written and spoken language freely and effectively. Let’s get to it.
Definition of Courage
Courage is: “Displaying strength when faced with grief, pain, or anguish, or the ability to do something even when one is afraid.”
That probably sounds a little bit like bravery, but we’ll now break down the minor details that set the two apart. The fact with courage vs bravery is that you need one to use the other. This is why there is so much widespread confusion.
Courage is a foundation. It is a necessary prerequisite to face something that you don’t like in the first place. Courage is what leads to you to deciding to take some kind of action, and it can relate to any circumstance that you personally struggle to deal with.
Before you show bravery, you first need courage to place yourself in a position that may call for bravery to be displayed. To further help you separate the difference between bravery vs courage, we’ll analyse the exact meaning of the former word.
Definition of Bravery
Bravery is: “Willingly taking part in an activity that places one at risk of danger.”
As you can see, the definition itself doesn’t help us to separate the two words much. However, the circumstances where either word can be effectively used do as we’ll now discuss.
Bravery correlates with someone who is faced with a risky or dangerous situation that they need to overcome. Through willingly approaching and taking a situation like this head-on, the person would then be displaying bravery.
Though they would need courage to place themselves in the situation in the first place, to overcome it successfully, they would need to actively display bravery. Though similar, this helps us to understand where the difference lies.
There isn’t necessarily a risk of danger associated with a situation that requires a person to be courageous, but there is always a risk of danger or a threat to personal wellbeing associated with displaying an act of bravery.
One (courage) establishes the foundation on which we can then choose to display the other (bravery). The first is a prerequisite for the second. Though almost the same, one is ultimately a byproduct of another.
Main Differences Between Courage vs Bravery
We’re now going to effectively summarise the differences between these two words with a quick reference table.
The goal of this table is to display key differences that you can review with a quick glance any time you find yourself confused about this subject in the future.
| Basis of Comparison | Courage | Bravery |
| Danger | Not always displayed in dangerous situations | Displayed in situations that involve danger |
| Which comes first? | Courage comes before bravery | Bravery follows courage |
| Characteristics | Mental or moral strength | A quality displayed by a person |
| Fear | Courage implies the presence of fear | Bravery implies a lack of fear |
| Examples | It’s courageous to admit when you’ve lied | The bravery someone displayed during battle that was admired for hundreds of years |
Though they do not entail all of the variations and contrasting elements that one might find when studying the two words, you’ve definitely got more than enough information above to gain a deeper understanding of how they weave into our everyday language and circumstances.
Difference Between Courage and Bravery: Conclusion
All of the necessary ingredients to help you to separate courage vs bravery have now been laid out for you to effectively understand and make practical use of them as part of written and spoken language.
Just try to remember that while courage is summoned to face any difficult scenario, bravery on balance is the act of directly overcoming danger. This key area alone serves as an easy to remember reminder of their differing natures.
