different between timid vs pusillanimity

English

Etymology

From Middle French timide, from Latin timidus (“full of fear, fearful, timid”), from time? (“I fear”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?m?d/

Adjective

timid (comparative timider, superlative timidest)

1. Lacking in courage or confidence.

   Synonyms: fearful, timorous, shy; see also Thesaurus:cautious, Thesaurus:shy

   Antonyms: daredevil, dauntless, bellicose, reckless, aggressive

Derived terms

• timidly
• timidness

Related terms

• intimidate
• intimidation
• timidity

Translations

Further reading

• timid in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• timid in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• dimit

Ibaloi

Noun

timid

1. (anatomy) chin

Ilocano

Noun

timid

1. (anatomy) chin

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French timide and Latin timidus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ti?mid/

Adjective

timid m or n (feminine singular timid?, masculine plural timizi, feminine and neuter plural timide)

1. timid, shy

Declension

Related terms

• timiditate

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