timidity
Americannoun
-
timidities
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of timidity
First recorded in 1510–20; from Latin timiditās, equivalent to timid(us) + -i- connecting vowel + -tās noun suffix; see timid ( def. ), -i- ( def. ), -ty 2 ( def. )
Explanation
Do you suffer from timidity? If so, you probably feel uneasy in new places and situations. You might fear having to make decisions. But as you get more comfortable, your timidity will go away. The noun timidity is related to the Latin word timidus, from timere, meaning “to fear.” In fact, fear is often a cause of timidity — fear of the unknown, fear of not knowing what to do. For example, you might experience timidity in visiting a country for the first time because you aren't sure of the local customs or you don't speak the language well. Because you are afraid of embarrassing yourself, you hold back.
Vocabulary lists containing timidity
The Devil's Arithmetic
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Litotes from Top AP English Exam Novels
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"Growing Up Asian in America"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But this is not the time for judicial timidity.
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2025
Fear, panic and timidity rule the day, as they generally do.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2024
He spoke about a lack of intensity, desire and warned against timidity.
From BBC ● May 10, 2024
The Mark Taper Forum’s timidity turned into the Fountain’s opportunity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2024
We were not unforward nor imprecise in our criticism of our officers, muttering that cowering timidity was but poor cover for past incompetence.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
But few will fail to join in the familiar battlecry of her hedonism: "Away with hypocrisies, timidities, doubts!"
From Time Magazine Archive
This culmination of a series of sentimental and financial timidities seemed to me to indicate that the Board was not acting fearlessly for the best interests of the students.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is a standing challenge, a rebuke, to the rigidities and timidities of the newly dominant right and left.
From Time Magazine Archive
What Are We to Do?, a study of the "rise and fall" of the British labor movement, is an urbane, inquisitional chronicle of missed opportunities, compromises, retreats, timidities, defeats.
From Time Magazine Archive
She was no fragile ornament of drawing-rooms; she was the woman who strode like a goddess and for whom timidities had no existence.
From The Portal of Dreams by Charles Neville Buck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
