The nouns, temerity and timidity, have opposite meanings, though both describe the behavior of people or animals:
Temerity describes bold, daring, and especially presumptuous behavior.
Timidity describes shy, fearful, or hesitant behavior:
Caleb showed shocking temerity in asking his professor for a higher grade.
Beth’s timidity was obvious; she seemed afraid to even look at people or introduce herself.
Note that temerity does not mean courageous. Courage can be part of temerity, but temerity means more bold than is appropriate, and can imply arrogance or disrespect.
Similarly, timidity does not mean afraid. Timidity can include fear, but it really means not assertive—shy.
More Examples of “Temerity” in a Sentence
- Polis and Johnston had the temerity to actually support charter schools.
- Spencer argued in his lawsuit that the police officers made up their story because he had the temerity to laugh at them.
- He then had the temerity to give them a list of teams for which he would prefer to play.
- For having the temerity to question Ford’s antics, Blair was removed from the interim top cop job this past weekend.
- Kane had the temerity to score so Messi just went down the other end and got one himself.
More Examples of “Timidity” in a Sentence
- They focus on tiny flaws when the real problem may be born of timidity.
- And each of us finds within ourselves only failure, cowardice, timidity, in short, a despair at our general weakness.
- It was surprising to see Rosa’s anger surface above her timidity.
- For now, he’s seeing a team with a strong willingness to improve hampered at times by timidity.
- It was clear enough last season, despite the timidity of Chicago’s offense, that Trubisky has the necessary physical traits to thrive as a pro.