bracing
adjective
brac·ing ˈbrā-siŋ 
: giving strength, vigor, or freshness
a bracing breeze
bracingly adverb
Synonyms
- cordial
- invigorating
- refreshing
- rejuvenating
- restorative
- reviving
- stimulating
- stimulative
- tonic
- vital
- vitalizing
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
a chilly but bracing day
Recent Examples on the Web No Way Home, The Batman is as bracing as a shot of whisky after a grape Slushee. 
Kyle Smith, National Review, 28 Feb. 2022 The 700-some-page tome is a bracing addition to an ongoing field of research and testimony on AIDS history, a corrective to previous accounts that have elevated some perspectives over others and latched onto only a handful of figures. Brandon Tensley, CNN, 24 June 2021 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 See More
Kyle Smith, National Review, 28 Feb. 2022 The 700-some-page tome is a bracing addition to an ongoing field of research and testimony on AIDS history, a corrective to previous accounts that have elevated some perspectives over others and latched onto only a handful of figures. Brandon Tensley, CNN, 24 June 2021 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 Indeed, for today’s readers, perhaps the most bracing paradox in the lectures is the suggestion that professionalism derives higher significance from precisely the inhospitable character of its context. Peter E. Gordon, The New York Review of Books, 19 Nov. 2020 See More Word History
First Known Use
1752, in the meaning defined above
bracing 1 of 2
adjective
as in refreshing
having a renewing effect on the state of the body or mind a chilly but bracing day Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- refreshing
- restorative
- invigorating
- stimulating
- rejuvenating
- vitalizing
- reviving
- tonic
- strengthening
- medicinal
- vital
- stimulative
- conditioning
- healthy
- cordial
- therapeutic
- exhilarating
- sharp
- corrective
- animating
- curing
- beneficial
- salutary
- recuperative
- curative
- remedial
- healthful
- reformative
- remedying
- rehabilitative
- rectifying
- helpful
- quickening
- life-giving
- salubrious
- reformatory
- reparative
- wholesome
- exhilarative
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- draining
- weakening
- deadening
- debilitating
- numbing
- exhausting
- enervating
- pernicious
- deleterious
- injurious
- sapping
- wearying
- enfeebling
- noxious
- unhealthful
- unhealthy
- unwholesome
- insalubrious
bracing
2 of 2verb
1
as in stimulating
to give life, vigor, or spirit to the pep talk braced the team up for the second half Synonyms & Similar Words
- stimulating
- stirring
- invigorating
- energizing
- provoking
- electrifying
- lifting
- enlivening
- arousing
- animating
- awakening
- vitalizing
- strengthening
- vivifying
- triggering
- cheering
- driving
- rousing
- activating
- firing
- spiking
- exciting
- inspiring
- sparking
- raising
- quickening
- filliping
- reviving
- propelling
- awaking
- moving
- galvanizing
- charging
- rallying
- jump-starting
- recreating
- boosting
- motivating
- refreshing
- motiving
- juicing up
- buoying
- jazzing (up)
- pepping (up)
- gingering (up)
- fortifying
- actuating
- zipping (up)
- resurrecting
- renewing
- infusing
- impelling
- amping (up)
- fomenting
- livening (up)
- inciting
- reinvigorating
- heartening
- reenergizing
- emboldening
- fermenting
- rejuvenating
- kindling
- revitalizing
- inflaming
- reawakening
- instigating
- setting off
- steeling
- enkindling
- recharging
- regenerating
- resuscitating
- enflaming
- rekindling
- reanimating
- re-energizing
- reactivating
- turning on
- waking (up)
- refreshening
- abetting
- reawaking
- restimulating
- whipping (up)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- damping
- dampening
- deadening
- killing
- wearing
- undermining
- dulling
- enervating
- draining
- weakening
- exhausting
- debilitating
- sapping
- restraining
- wearying
- checking
- knocking out
- burning out
- fatiguing
- harassing
- enfeebling
- curbing
- inhibiting
- washing out
- wearing out
- suppressing
- slowing
- quenching
- stilling
- quelling
- discouraging
- repressing
- stunting
- demoralizing
- fagging
- dispiriting
- daunting
- disheartening
- kayoing
- jading
- tuckering (out)
- doing in
2
as in sustaining
to hold up or serve as a foundation for several boards braced the wall Synonyms & Similar Words
- sustaining
- carrying
- supporting
- bolstering
- buttressing
- staying
- underpinning
- upholding
- undergirding
- bearing
- trussing
- steadying
- underlying
- propping (up)
- shoring (up)
3
as in fortifying
to prepare (oneself) mentally or emotionally she braced herself for the job interview Synonyms & Similar Words
- fortifying
- strengthening
- readying
- poising
- reinforcing
- nerving
- bolstering
- steeling
- comforting
- forearming
- arming
- buttressing
- rousing
- encouraging
- toughening
- rallying
- hardening
- sustaining
- inuring
- enforcing
- supporting
- psyching (up)
- stirring
- heartening
- emboldening
- reenforcing
- inspiring
- seasoning
- boosting
- buoying (up)
- propping (up)
- cheering (up)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- shaking
- discouraging
- unnerving
- demoralizing
- daunting
- softening
- disheartening
- undermining
- undercutting
- weakening
- enervating
- dispiriting
- debilitating
- sapping
- tiring
- prostrating
- psyching (out)
- enfeebling