timorous

English

Alternative forms

timourous (obsolete)
timerous (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed into late Middle English from Old French temoros, from Medieval Latin timorosus, from Latin timor (“fear”), from timeō (“I fear”). Doublet of timoroso.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtɪməɹəs/, /ˈtɪmɹəs/
Audio (UK) (file)

Adjective

timorous (comparative more timorous, superlative most timorous)

Fearful; afraid; timid.
- 1785, Robert Burns, To a Mouse
  Wee sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie,
  Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!
- 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 219:
  [H]e was one of those weak creatures full of a shifty cunning - who face neither God nor man, who face not even themselves, void of pride, timorous, anæmic, hateful souls.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 16]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], OCLC 560090630:
  He turned a long you are wrong gaze on Stephen of timorous dark pride at the soft impeachment with a glance also of entreaty for he seemed to glean in a kind of a way that it wasn't all exactly.
- 1934, George Orwell, Burmese Days:
  The suspect was a man of forty, with a grey, timorous face, dressed only in a ragged longyi kilted to the knee, beneath which his lank, curved shins were specked with tick-bites.

Synonyms

(fearful): fearful, shy, timid

Antonyms

(fearful): daredevil, dauntless, reckless, untimorous

Related terms

timorsome

Translations

fearful, timid

Armenian: երկչոտ (hy) (erkčʿot)
Bulgarian: боязлив (bg) (bojazliv), изплашен (bg) (izplašen)
Dutch: angstig (nl), schuw (nl), verlegen (nl),
French: timoré (fr) m, timorée (fr) f, craintif (fr) m, craintive (fr) f
German: scheu (de), ängstlich (de)
Greek:
Ancient Greek: τρήρων (trḗrōn)
Hungarian: félénk (hu)
Irish: faiteach
Italian: timido (it)
Ottoman Turkish: یوركسز‎ (yüreksiz)
Plautdietsch: enjstlich
Russian: боязливый (ru) (bojazlivyj)
Serbo-Croatian: plašljiv (sh), preplašen (sh)
Spanish: tímido (es), espantadizo, timorato (es)
Ukrainian: боязкий (uk) m (bojazkyj)

References

James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Timorous”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume X, Part 1 (Ti–U), London: Clarendon Press, OCLC 15566697, page 46, column 1.

Anagrams

sumotori