different between pusillanimity vs determination

English

Etymology

pusillanim(ous) +? -ity, from Middle French pusillanimité, from the ecclesiastical Latin pusillanimis, from pusillus (puny) + animus (spirit) + -ous. A translation of the Greek ?????????? (oligópsukhos, “faint-hearted”).

Noun

pusillanimity (countable and uncountable, plural pusillanimities)

1. The quality or state of being pusillanimous; the vice of being timid and cowardly, and thus not living up to one's full potential; pusillanimousness.
   • 1685. Dr. Michael de Molinos: The Spiritual Guide which Disentangles the Soul, and Brings it by the Inward Way To The Getting of Perfect Contemplation and the Rich Treasure of Internal Peace, CHAP. XVIII: [1].

     132. And although thou often fallest, and seest thy Pusillanimity, and endeavour to get courage, and afflict not thy self; because what God doth not do in forty Years, he sometimes doth in an instant, with a particular Mystery, that we may live low and humble, and know that ‘tis the Work of his powerful Hand, to free us from Sins.

   • their hectorings against an absent enemy, and their pusillanimity on his approach

   • 1872, Henry James, "Guest's Confession" in The Atlantic Monthly October 1872.

     What I did through indolence and in some degree, I confess, through pusillanimity, I had a fancy to make it appear (by dint of much whistling, as it were, and easy thrusting of my hands into my pocket) that I did through a sort of generous condescension.

Related terms

• pusillanimous
• pusillanimousness
• faint-heartedness

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English determinacion, determynacioun, from Old French determinacion, from Latin d?termin?ti?.Morphologically determine +? -ation

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??t??m??ne???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

determination (countable and uncountable, plural determinations)

1. The act of determining, or the state of being determined.

2. Bringing to an end; termination; limit.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 13:

     So should that beauty which you hold in lease

     Find no determination: then you were

     Yourself again after yourself's decease ...

3. Direction or tendency to a certain end; impulsion.
4. The quality of mind which reaches definite conclusions; decision of character; resoluteness.
5. (countable) The state of decision; a judicial decision, or ending of controversy.
6. (countable) That which is determined upon; result of deliberation; purpose; conclusion formed; fixed resolution.
7. A flow, rush, or tendency to a particular part

8. (countable) The act, process, or result of any accurate measurement, as of length, volume, weight, intensity, etc.

9. The act of defining a concept or notion by giving its essential constituents.
10. The addition of a distinguishing feature to a concept or notion, thus limiting its extent; -- the opposite of generalization.
11. The act of determining the relations of an object, such as genus and species; the referring of minerals, plants, or animals, to the species to which they belong; classification

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

Danish

Noun

determination c (singular definite determinationen, plural indefinite determinationer)

1. determination

Declension

Further reading

• “determination” in Den Danske Ordbog