təˈmerəd.ē, -rətē, -i noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English temeryte, from Latin temeritas, from temere by chance, rashly + -itas -ity; akin to Old Saxon thim dark, Old High German demar darkness, dinstar dark, Old Norse thām mugginess, Old Irish temel darkness, Latin tenebrae, Sanskrit tamas; basic meaning: dark
: unreasonable or foolhardy contempt of danger or opposition : reckless and often presumptuous boldness : rash venturesomeness
a private with the temerity to speak up against the sergeant's bullying
the author's intellectual temerity is colossal — Rubin Gotesky
Synonyms:
hardihood , audacity , nerve , effrontery , cheek , gall : temerity suggests a boldness or courage in forward action or gesture arising from contempt of danger or from lack of due consideration of chances of failure, rebuff, or defeat
he impetuously brushed aside the legalistic twaddle of the lawyers … and they frowned on such temerity — C.G.Bowers
tenth-rate critics and compilers, for whom any violent shock to the public taste would be a temerity not to be risked — Matthew Arnold
hardihood indicates a determined resolution or self-confidence in bold gestures that may involve defiance or insolence
glowering in sullen suspense between hardihood and fear — John Galsworthy
the reviewers … were staggered by my hardihood in offering a woman of forty as a subject of serious interest — Arnold Bennett
audacity suggests a daring boldness with an openly expressed disdain of prudence, restrain, convention, or authority
the supreme audacity of looking into her soul — Victoria Sackville-West
the audacity … in offering battle against forces ten times his own
nerve indicates an assured, cool boldness which may offend by being presumptuous
you had the nerve to ask me to marry you — Barnaby Conrad
effrontery suggests flagrant or flaunted insolence that is rude and presumptuous
had the effrontery to pose as the avenger of outraged morality — G.B.Shaw
unable to endure the cool effrontery of a Yankee schoolmaster's dabbling in affairs peculiarly English — H.R.Warfel
cheek suggests impudent or insolently flaunted self-assurance
I've never allowed anyone to talk to me as you do … you have the cheek of the devil himself — Hartley Howard
gall is most extreme in suggesting a brazen boldness likely to irritate or enrage
some have only one attribute, a colossal gall — Stanley Walker