timorous
Syllables: tim·or·ous/ˈtɪməɹəs/
timorous adjective: tending to be easily frightened; shy, timid.
Adjective
timorous (comparative more timorous, superlative most timorous)
- Tending to be easily frightened; shy, timid.
- But thou now O temerous ⁊ weake ſely ſhepe, thynke yt ſufficient for thee, onely to walke after me, which am thy ſhepehearde ⁊ gouernor: […]1534 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatice vpon the Passion of Chryste (Vnfinished) […]”, in Marye Basset [i.e., Mary Basset], transl., edited by Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], The...
- Thys faute of puſillanimitye and tymorous mynde, letteth a man alſo mani tymes from the doynge of manye good thynges, whyche (if he tooke a good ſtomake to hym in the truſt of Gods helpe) he were wel able to do.1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. XIII. Of Pusillanimitie.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir...
- Synonyms:
- timorsome
- Antonyms:
- adventurous, mettlesome, aweless, bad, bold, brass-balled, chivalrous, courageous, daredevil, daring
- Feeling fear; afraid, fearful, frightened.
- He [the Devil] marketh well […] mennes complexions within thẽ [them], health, or ſicknes, good humours or badde, by which they be light hearted or lumpiſh, ſtrong hearted, or faynt & fieble of ſpirite, bolde and hardy, or timorous and fearefull of courage.1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. XVI. Of Hym that were Moued to Kyl Himself by Illusion of the Dyuel, which He Rekened for a...
- Men call her Athliot: vvho cannot be / More vvretched made by infelicitie, / Vnleſſe ſhe here had an immortall breath / Or liuing thus, liu'd timerous of death.1616, William Browne, “The Fifth Song”, in Britannia’s Pastorals. The Second Booke, London: […] Thomas Snodham for George Norton, […], →OCLC, page 120
- Synonyms:
- apprehensive, afeared, afraid, alarmed, anxious, chicken, concerned, creeped out, fearful, frightened
- Antonyms:
- brave, daredevil, dauntless, temerarious, untimorous, unafraid, unruffled, unterrified
- Fastidious in dressing.
- Fired with intense feeling; passionate.
- Hard to manage; difficult, tiresome.
- Causing dread or fear; dreadful, terrible.
- Well, having past halfe way downewards, wee came to the most scurrile and timorous Discent of the whole passage, where with much difficuty, I set safe the foure Germanes in our narrow Rode hewen out of the craggy Hill; […]1632, William Lithgow, “The Sixth Part”, in The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland to the Most Famous Kingdomes in...
- Humble, modest; also, showing reverence; respectful, reverent, reverential.
timorous meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam
timorous in Urdu
- خائف
timorous in Bengali
- ভীতু, লাজুক
timorous in Telugu
- a timorous or timid man; one who fears to do evil; a god-fearing man
- భయస్థుడు bhayasthuḍu
timorous in Malayalam
- ഭീരുവായ, ശങ്കയുളള, ധൈര്യഹീനനായ
More languagesFewer languages
- timorous in Kannada
- ಹೆದರಿದ, ಅಂಜಿದ, ಗಾಬರಿಯಾದ
Examples of timorous in a sentence
- Conſcious of theſe diſadvantages, vvhich vvill continue to involve a conſiderable portion of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, I ſhall proceed vvith doubtful and timorous ſteps.1781, Edward Gibbon, chapter XXVI, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan...
- Animals of the hare kind, like all others that feed entirely upon vegetables, are inoffenſive and timorous.1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of Animals of the Hare Kind”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume IV...
- [H]e was one of those weak creatures full of a shifty cunning—who face neither God nor man, who face not even themselves, void of pride, timorous, anæmic, hateful souls.1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Days of Imprisonment”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898...
- "Upon my word," said Micky, "only I was timorous i' puttin' the good people to too much throuble, I was on the point i' mentionin' the same meself."1899 October, Seumas MacManus, “The Strong Weakness of Oiney Kittach”, in The Century Illustrated Magazine, volume LVIII, number 6, London...
Synonyms of timorous
11 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of timorous
| comparative | more timorous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most timorous |
| alternative form | timerous |
| alternative form | timourous |
Origin of timorous
From Late Middle English timorous (“(adjective) fearful, frightened; causing fear, dreadful, terrible; deferential, modest; (noun) timid people collectively”), borrowed from Old French temoros, temorous, from Medieval Latin timōrōsus, from timōr- (the stem of Latin timor (“dread, fear”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’). Timor is derived from timeō (“to be afraid of, fear”) (further origin uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark”)) + -or (suffix forming third-declension masculine abstract nouns). Doublet of timoroso.
Words formed from timorous
Questions about timorous
- What does timorous mean?
- Timorous means tending to be easily frightened; shy, timid.
- What is timorous in Urdu?
- Timorous in Urdu is خائف. See Timorous meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use timorous in a sentence?
- Conſcious of theſe diſadvantages, vvhich vvill continue to involve a conſiderable portion of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, I ſhall proceed vvith doubtful and timorous ſteps.
- What part of speech is timorous?
- Timorous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce timorous?
- Timorous is pronounced /ˈtɪməɹəs/ (UK).
Words near timorous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: timorous (page history and authors); timorous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); timorous (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); భయస్థుడు (Telugu) (page history and authors); timorous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); timorous (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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Cite this entry: “timorous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/timorous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.