different between shamelessness vs temerity

English

Etymology

From shameless +? -ness.

Noun

shamelessness (countable and uncountable, plural shamelessnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being shameless.
   • 1853, Charles Kingsley, Hypatia, ch. 7:

     [H]e added to all his other shamelessness this, that he offered the patriarch a large sum of money to buy a bishopric of him.

   • 1914, Joseph Conrad, The Arrow of Gold, ch. 1:

     "For instance as to her shamelessness. She was always ready to run half naked about the hills. . . ."

   • 1919, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Dangerous Days, ch. 50:

     She was quite honest with herself; she knew that she was watching for Clay, and she had a magnificent shamelessness in her quest.

2. (countable, rare) An utterance or action which is shameless.
   • 1872 May 18, "The Womens Rights' Convention in New York," The Spectator, Volume 45, p. 624:

     Shoals of letters are published every week from all parts of the Union telling stories of the unhappiness produced by marriage, sometimes mere bursts of ill-temper, often cynical shamelessnesses, occasionally stories of deep pathos.

   • 1963, James Joyce and David Hayman, A First-Draft Version of Finnegans Wake (2002 edition), ?ISBN, p. 109:

     He was able to write in the gloom of his bottle only because of his noseglow nose's glow as it slid over the paper and while he scribbled & scratched nameless shamelessnesses about ethers everybody ever he met. . . .

   • 2006, Judith Weingarten, The Chronicle of Zenobia, ?ISBN, p. 104:

     He asked of course after Taimsa, who was still dallying in shamelessnesses at Antioch.

Synonyms

• (state or characteristic of being shameless): immodesty, unself-consciousness

Translations

English

Etymology

temer(arious) +? -ity, from Middle English temerite, temeryte, from Old French temerité, from Latin temerit?s (“chance, accident, rashness”), from temer? (“by chance, casually, rashly”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /t??m???ti/, /t??m???ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /t??m???ti/
• Rhymes: -???ti

Noun

temerity (countable and uncountable, plural temerities)

1. (uncountable) Reckless boldness; foolish bravery.

   Synonyms: audacity, foolhardiness, rashness, recklessness

   • 1569, Thomas Pearson, trans., "The Second Paradox," in The booke of Marcus Tullius Cicero entituled Paradoxa Stoicorum, T. Marshe (London),

     Neyther the spightfull temerity and rashnes of variable fortune, nor the envious hart burning and in iurious hatred of mine enemies shold be able once to damnify me.
2. (countable) An act or case of reckless boldness.
   • 1910, Edith Wharton, "The Blond Beast," Scribner's Magazine, vol. 48 (Sept),

     Draper, dear lad, had the illusion of an "intellectual sympathy" between them.... Draper's temerities would always be of that kind.

3. (uncountable) Effrontery; impudence.

   Synonyms: brashness, cheek, gall, chutzpah

Related terms

• intemerate
• temerarious
• temerary
• temerous

Translations

Further reading

• Webster, Noah (1828) , “temerity”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language
• temerity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “temerity” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "temerity" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002)
• "temerity" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “temerity”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)
• temerity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• temerity at OneLook Dictionary Search