temerity
UK/tɪˈmɛɹ.ɪ.ti//təˈmɛɹ.ə.ti/
temerity noun: reckless boldness; foolish bravery.
Noun
temerity (countable and uncountable, plural temerities)
- Reckless boldness; foolish bravery.
- 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.1569, Thomas Pearson, trans., "The Second Paradox," in The booke of Marcus Tullius Cicero entituled Paradoxa Stoicorum, T. Marshe (London)
- 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.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
- Synonyms:
- audacity, foolhardiness, rashness, recklessness
- An act or case of reckless boldness.
- Draper, dear lad, had the illusion of an "intellectual sympathy" between them.... Draper's temerities would always be of that kind.1910 Sept, Edith Wharton, “The Blond Beast”, in Scribner's Magazine, volume 48
- Effrontery; impudence.
- He had very nearly been guilty of the temerity of arrogating to himself another title in the presence of those he most respected.1820, James Fennimore Cooper, chapter 30, in Precaution
- 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!1975, Woody Allen, Love and Death, spoken by Boris (Woody Allen)
temerity meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
temerity in Hindi
- reckless boldness
- दुस्साहस dussāhas
temerity in Urdu
- temerity; audacity; dare
- جرأت jurr'at
temerity in Bengali
- দুঃসাহস, বেপরোয়া সাহস
temerity in Malayalam
- അവിവേക ധാർഷ്ട്യം, എടുത്തുചാട്ടം, സാഹസം, തൻറേടം, തുനിച്ചൽ
More languagesFewer languages
- temerity in Kannada
- ಉರವಣಿ, ದುಡುಕುತನ, ಆರ್ಪು, ಅದಟು
- temerity in Arabic
- تَهَوُّر tahawwur
Examples of temerity in a sentence
- One day when he knew old Lobbs was out, Nathaniel Pipkin had the temerity to kiss his hand to Maria Lobbs.1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 17, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […]...
- 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.1886 May, Thomas Hardy, chapter 21, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. […], volume I, London: Smith...
- Terror seized me, a horror of my temerity.1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, (please specify the page...
- I am surprised that you, sir, a man of letters yourself, should have the temerity so to interrupt the progress of science.1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 21, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg, published...
Synonyms of temerity
Antonyms
Forms of temerity
| plural | temerities |
|---|---|
| alternative form | timerity |
Origin of temerity
From Middle English temerite, temeryte, from Old French temerité, from Latin temeritās (“chance, accident, rashness”), from temere (“by chance, casually, rashly”). By surface analysis, temer(arious) + -ity.
Words formed from temerity
Words that rhyme with temerity
Questions about temerity
- What does temerity mean?
- Temerity means reckless boldness; foolish bravery.
- What is temerity in Hindi?
- Temerity in Hindi is दुस्साहस (dussāhas). See Temerity meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use temerity in a sentence?
- One day when he knew old Lobbs was out, Nathaniel Pipkin had the temerity to kiss his hand to Maria Lobbs.
- What part of speech is temerity?
- Temerity is a noun.
- How do you pronounce temerity?
- Temerity is pronounced /tɪˈmɛɹ.ɪ.ti/ (UK).
- What is the plural of temerity?
- The plural of temerity is temerities.
Words near temerity in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: temerity (page history and authors); جرأت (Urdu) (page history and authors); temerity (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); temerity (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); temerity (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-temerity.ogg.
Cite this entry: “temerity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/temerity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.