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:
And no one is better equipped to ignore counsels of timidity than Mr. Trump.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
That linguistic timidity —our inability to name what’s happening — is itself a form of complicity, and the result of a combination of fear and fecklessness.
From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2025
Jane, whose timidity is evident in the way she only reluctantly takes off her winter coat, behaves as though she’s been abducted by an overly solicitous kidnapper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2025
More timidity to observe, more vulnerability in defence, more powder-puff stuff up front, more wide men running in ever decreasing circles.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
Finally I overcame my timidity and asked him: "Sir, why did you become interested in the school?"
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
It is a standing challenge, a rebuke, to the rigidities and timidities of the newly dominant right and left.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Only a combination of great disasters, great stupidities, great timidities could ever allow war to come so close to U.S. shores.
From Time Magazine Archive
Imperfect memories, silly jingles, inhibitive timidities, "dissolutive" phenomena of various sorts, as Myers calls them, enters into it for a large part.
From Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study in Human Nature by William James
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
