different between intrepidity vs hardihood

English

Etymology

From intrepid +? -ity.

Noun

intrepidity (countable and uncountable, plural intrepidities)

1. The quality of being intrepid; bravery.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:courage

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:cowardice

Translations

Related terms

• intrepid
• intrepidness
• trepidation

English

Etymology

From hardy +? -hood. Compare Dutch hardigheid (“hardness, callousness”), German Hartigkeit (“hardness”).

Noun

hardihood (countable and uncountable, plural hardihoods)

1. Unyielding boldness and daring; firmness in doing something that exposes one to difficulty, danger, or calamity; intrepidness.
   • 1789, Ann Ward Radcliffe, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, London: T. Hookham, Chapter 4, p. 81,^[1]

     […] he came to impart other news; to prepare the Earl for death; for the morrow was appointed for his execution. He received the intelligence with the firm hardihood of indignant virtue, disdaining to solicit, and disdaining to repine […]

   • 1971 John M. Dorsey, Psychology of Emotion, Detroit: Center for Health Education, “My Theory of Emotion,” p. 108,^[2]

     Once endured it is enjoyed as my owndom. Elsewhere I refer to this process of enduring hardship as the only possible source of hardihood.

2. Excessive boldness; foolish daring; offensive assurance.
   • 1643, John Milton, The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, London, p. 25,^[3]

     […] that God should enact a dispensation for hard hearts to do that wherby they must live in priviledg’d adultery, however it go for the receav’d opinion, I shall ever disswade my self from so much hardihood as to beleeve:

   • 1798, Hannah Brand, Adelinda in Plays and Poems, Norwich, Act I, Scene 1, p. 358,^[4]

     I have not the hardihood to dare to be vilely dishonest.

   • 1896, H. G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Chapter 9,^[5]

     I began to realise the hardihood of my expedition among these unknown people.

   • 1973, Mary Stewart, The Hollow Hills, New York: William Morrow, Book 1, Chapter 7, p. 84,^[6]

     I had not the arrogance—or the hardihood—to test my power again, but I put on hope, as a naked man welcomes rags in a winter storm.

3. (of a plant) Ability to withstand extreme conditions, hardiness.
   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, London: George Woodfall & Son, Volume 1, p. 144,^[7]

     The cheapness and hardihood of the musk-plant and marigold, to say nothing of their peculiar odour, has made them the most popular of “roots” […]

   • 1957, Sylvia Plath, “Mayflower” in Collected Poems, New York: Harper & Row, 1981, p. 60,

     Now, as green sap ascends the steepled wood,

     Each hedge with such white bloom astounds our eyes

     As sprang from Joseph’s rod, and testifies

     How best beauty’s born of hardihood.

Related terms

• hardihead

Translations