timidity

Sometimes tim·id·ness

[ti-mid-i-tee]

noun

1. the state or quality of lacking in self-assurance, courage, or bravery.

   The stakes are too high for the officials charged with making decisions to succumb to timidity and refuse to act.

Other Word Forms

• overtimidness noun
• overtimidity noun
• untimidness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of timidity¹

First recorded in 1510–20; from Latin timiditās, equivalent to timid(us) + -i- connecting vowel + -tās noun suffix; timid ( def. ), -i- ( def. ), -ty ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

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.

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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.

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More timidity to observe, more vulnerability in defence, more powder-puff stuff up front, more wide men running in ever decreasing circles.

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That timidity angered two of the team’s main supporters groups, who canceled viewing parties, travel to road matches and other game-related events.

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This push and pull between wilderness and civilized life, or wildness versus timidity, has preoccupied Brown for the duration of his career, and it is what brought Brown to his robot.

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Related Words

• cowardice