The Latin word sfacciatezza came to our language as impudence . This adjective refers to the lack of shame, modesty, decorum or decency . He who acts impudently, therefore, acts without modesty.
For example: “The footballer once again showed his audacity by singing live on a television program” , “I am amazed by the audacity of politicians who try to justify their wealth with unusual arguments ” , “The faithful did not tolerate the audacity of the man who “He entered the temple bare-chested.”
Depending on the context, impudence can be valued positively or negatively . In some cases, being cheeky is associated with bravery. A basketball player, to cite one case, can be positively valued for the audacity that leads him to constantly attack the opponent's basket, regardless of whether his defenders are taller or stronger.
In other situations, impudence is taken as disrespect . Suppose that a public official decides to hire his wife and three children as assistants, assigning them very high salaries that are paid with public funds. Faced with criticism from journalism and public opinion, the official responds that he hired his relatives because there are no more qualified workers. This absurd position, which seeks to justify something unjustifiable, can be described as a display of impudence.
As unfortunate as it may seem, in the world of politics, impudence is very common, which can be seen through decisions such as the one set out in the previous paragraph, or the theft of public money for use in personal businesses, among others. crimes that are exposed daily in the newspapers.
The impudence of political leaders gives rise to various types of reactions: on the one hand, the media dedicated to impartial and transparent journalism do everything possible to expose them publicly to stop their acts of corruption ; Comedians, for their part, dedicate themselves to imitating them and ridiculing their actions to demonstrate their disagreement.
Another possibility is that impudence is not judged in a moral sense. A young man who starts singing on public transport without asking for anything in return, just for pleasure , can be mentioned as shameless since neither the people nor the situation inhibit him.
Said individual can be described as shameless but, as indicated in the previous paragraph, not with malice but alluding to his detached and shameless attitude , which allows him to move freely through the world, ignoring the pressures that are always there. to block us and try to accommodate us in an unbreakable structure.
There are cases in which no harm is caused to a specific person or someone who is deprived of their basic rights, but a certain norm is violated that deprives those who comply with it of accessing a certain benefit. For example, when someone cheats in a contest and manages to win the prize, even if there were no other participants, it is an act of injustice and, why not, impudence.
In any case, whether positive or negative, impudence is understood as the attitude that is characterized by the lack of attention to the response from others, to the impact it will have on the environment. Some of the most common synonyms of this term are the following: impudence, cynicism, insolence, freshness, audacity and daring . With respect to its antonyms, we can mention prudence and decorum .
We can think that when impudence does not harm anyone, it is nothing more than "freshness" or "expontaneity", and even " boldness " or "daring", especially if it involves acts that demonstrate great bravery. The rest of the synonyms serve for cases in which there is non-compliance with a fundamental norm for coexistence in society.