timorous
Americanadjective
-
full of fear; fearful.
The noise made them timorous.
-
subject to fear; timid.
-
characterized by or indicating fear.
a timorous whisper.
adjective
-
fearful or timid
-
indicating fear or timidity
Related Words
See cowardly.
Other Word Forms
- overtimorous adjective
- overtimorously adverb
- overtimorousness noun
- timorously adverb
- timorousness noun
- untimorous adjective
- untimorously adverb
- untimorousness noun
Etymology
Origin of timorous
1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin timōrōsus ( Latin timōr- (stem of timor ) fear + -ōsus -ous )
Explanation
A timorous person is timid or shy, like your timorous friend who likes to hang out with close pals but gets nervous around big groups of new people. The adjective timorous is actually the Latin word for ”fearful.” But timorous is a specific kind of fearfulness — the kind that strikes people before giving a speech, or walking into a crowded place where people are socializing. Also called "shy" or "timid," timorous people often become more comfortable when they see a familiar face in the crowd.
Vocabulary lists containing timorous
Frankenstein
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Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I A Woman?" (1863)
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"Common Sense," Vocabulary from the pamphlet
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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.
She became the party’s spine and its sinew, holding together the Democrat’s many warring factions and standing firm at times the more timorous were prepared to back down.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2025
Haynesville companies are being more timorous than before because they need to hit their returns on investment, lest they lose hard-won investors.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025
Even amoral or timorous lawyers will hesitate to misbehave if it becomes clear that doing so endangers their livelihood.
From Slate • Mar. 17, 2025
Powell, who has repeatedly told the president that his aides are too timorous and should be taking stronger steps, has taken some of her criticism public since the meeting.
From Washington Post • Dec. 21, 2020
She coaxed her father out of his bitter moods, upheld her timorous and anxious mother, gently restrained her rebellious sister and had reached to draw an uncertain alien into the circle.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
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.
