[marbletiles]

/pedant: it is, actually. Definition is "ready to face danger or pain". "Brave" is mostly used approvingly, but it's also completely proper in sentences like "He decided the app should be IE-only, which was a brave move but one he felt was justified by ..."

Similarly with "daring" -- you often hear of "daring robberies" and the like.

[orborde]

Interesting point. "Brave" is usually considered to be a virtue, and people don't want to attribute virtues to scoundrels.

[jrockway]

Ah, the joys of learning English from dictionary definitions instead of literary use.

[james2vegas]

Because dictionary definitions aren't based on literary use at all.

[marbletiles]

Sorry, you don't get to be all prescriptivist in telling someone what "brave" doesn't mean, then suddenly produce a descriptivist defence when you're called on it; they're incompatible.