temerity

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English

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WOTD – 28 August 2007

Etymology

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From Middle English temerite, temeryte, from Old French temerité, from Latin temeritās (“chance, accident, rashness”),[1][2] from temerē (“by chance, casually, rashly”). By surface analysis, temer(arious) +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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temerity (countable and uncountable, plural temerities)

  1. (uncountable) Reckless boldness; foolish bravery.
    Synonyms: audacity, foolhardiness, rashness, recklessness
    • 1569, Thomas Pearson, trans., "The Second Paradox," in The booke of Marcus Tullius Cicero entituled Paradoxa Stoicorum, T. Marshe (London),
      Neyther the spightfull temerity and rashnes of variable fortune, nor the envious hart burning and in iurious hatred of mine enemies shold be able once to damnify me.
    • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 6:
      Jewan Sadit, who ſtood before the prince, obſerving his youthful temerity, threw himſelf between him and danger, and with a nervous arm, wielding a ſharp ſabre, of the hard tempered ſteel of Damiſk, ruſhing upon the tyger, he ſtruck him acroſs the forehead.
    • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 17, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
      One day when he knew old Lobbs was out, Nathaniel Pipkin had the temerity to kiss his hand to Maria Lobbs.
    • 1886 May, Thomas Hardy, chapter 21, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:
      Elizabeth trotted through the open door in the dusk, but becoming alarmed at her own temerity, she went quickly out again by another which stood open in the lofty wall of the back court.
    • 1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, (please specify the page number(s)):
      Terror seized me, a horror of my temerity.
    • 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 21, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg, published March 1915, →OCLC:
      I am surprised that you, sir, a man of letters yourself, should have the temerity so to interrupt the progress of science.
  2. (countable) An act or case of reckless boldness.
    • 1910 Sept, Edith Wharton, “The Blond Beast”, in Scribner's Magazine, volume 48:
      Draper, dear lad, had the illusion of an "intellectual sympathy" between them.... Draper's temerities would always be of that kind.
  3. (uncountable) Effrontery; impudence.
    Synonyms: brashness, cheek, gall, chutzpah
    • 1820, James Fennimore Cooper, chapter 30, in Precaution:
      He had very nearly been guilty of the temerity of arrogating to himself another title in the presence of those he most respected.
    • 1975, Woody Allen, Love and Death, spoken by Boris (Woody Allen):
      That's jejune? You have the temerity to say that I'm talking to you out of jejunosity? I am one of the most june people in all of the Russias!

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “temeritẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “temerity, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

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