You searched for: “temerity”
temerity (s) (noun), temerities (pl)
1. Foolhardy contempt for or disregard of danger; recklessness; rashness: The plan to ride across the desert by camel showed a remarkable temerity on the part of the explorer.
2. Reckless confidence that might be considered to be rude or offensive: No one had the temerity, or audacity, to challenge the senior manager's decision.
3. Etymology: from Middle French témérité; from Latin temeritatem, temeritas, "blind chance, accident, rashness"; from Latin temere, "by chance, blindly, casually, rashly"; related to tenebrae, "darkness".
Rashly unreasonable in the face of danger.
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Irrational disregard for a dangerous move.
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The elaborate caution with which the British commander now proceeded stands out in striking contrast with the temerity of his advance upon Bunker Hill in the preceding year.

—John Fiske, "Washington's Great Campaign of 1776",
The Atlantic, January, 1989.

Drivers with the temerity to accelerate out of turns are likely to encounter torque steer, an unsettling glitch in control as the engine fights to take charge of the steering.

—Peter Passell, "Mitsubishi Diamante: Back From Down Under",
New York Times, February 23, 1997.
This entry is located in the following units: -ity (page 16) temer- (page 1)
temerity, timidity, timorous
temerity (tuh MER i tee) (noun)
Recklessness, a foolhardy disdain for danger associated with an action: "The high school pupil had the temerity to talk back to the school principal."

"The mountain hikers demonstrated temerity when planning their assent of the dangerous mountain."

timidity (tuh MI duh tee) (noun)
Not possessing courage or boldness: "His timidity made him a victim of many jokes on the playground."
timorous (TIM uhr uhs) (adjective)
Fearful, doubtful: "Her timorous personality was not evident in the fascinating mystery books which she wrote under a pseudonym."

The timorous quality of his personality was surprising because he often demonstrated great temerity when he was enjoying his hobby of bungee jumping.

Perhaps the danger of bungee jumping gave him the courage to try to overcome his timidity.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group T; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. + (page 2)
Word Entries at Get Words: “temerity”
temerity, temerities
A foolhardy disregard of danger; recklessness; unreasonable or foolhardy contempt for danger. (2)
This entry is located in the following unit: Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words (page 77)