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Temerity   /təmˈɛrəti/   Listen
noun
Temerity  n.  Unreasonable contempt of danger; extreme venturesomeness; rashness; as, the temerity of a commander in war.
Synonyms: Rashness; precipitancy; heedlessness; venturesomeness. Temerity, Rashness. These words are closely allied in sense, but have a slight difference in their use and application. Temerity is Latin, and rashness is Anglo-Saxon. As in many such cases, the Latin term is more select and dignified; the Anglo-Saxon more familiar and energetic. We show temerity in hasty decisions, and the conduct to which they lead. We show rashness in particular actions, as dictated by sudden impulse. It is an exhibition of temerity to approach the verge of a precipice; it is an act of rashness to jump into a river without being able to swim. Temerity, then, is an unreasonable contempt of danger; rashness is a rushing into danger from thoughtlessness or excited feeling. "It is notorious temerity to pass sentence upon grounds uncapable of evidence." "Her rush hand in evil hour Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Temerity" Quotes from Famous Books



... you?" he asked, wondering at his own temerity. They went together some little distance without Paul speaking a word. He felt he had much to say to her, and yet, now that the opportunity had come, he was speechless. He noticed, too, that the people in the street were watching them, ...
— The Day of Judgment • Joseph Hocking

... it all, he concludes as follows: "Let no person, therefore, have the temerity to violate the contents of our present confirmation, or to contravene it. Should any one dare to do so, let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God, and that of His blessed Apostles, ...
— The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi • Father Candide Chalippe

... acquired a strange zest and a hint of danger. And as for the rider, he appeared to have forgotten Jane in the wonder of this lovely child playing about him. At first he was much the shyer of the two. Gradually her confidence overcame his backwardness, and he had the temerity to stroke her golden curls with a great hand. Fay rewarded his boldness with a smile, and when he had gone to the extreme of closing that great hand over her little brown one, she said, ...
— Riders of the Purple Sage • Zane Grey

... Domingo. But if I dare to answer that I removed Motley from the highest considerations of duty as an executive; if I presume to say that he made a mistake in his office which made him no longer useful to the country; if Fish has the temerity to hint that Sumner's temper was so unfortunate that business relations with him became impossible, ...
— Memoir of John Lothrop Motley, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... ladies of the court, who had had some share in persuading the queen of his fitness for office.[11] But his disposition was in reality as rash as that of Calonne; and it was a curious proof of his temerity, as well as of his ignorance of the feeling of parties in Paris, that though he knew the Notables to be friendly to him, as indeed they would have been to any one who might have superseded Calonne, he dismissed ...
— The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France • Charles Duke Yonge


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