timorous

English

WOTD – 9 April 2025

Etymology

From Late Middle English timorous (“(adjective) fearful, frightened; causing fear, dreadful, terrible; deferential, modest; (noun) timid people collectively”),^[1] borrowed from Old French temoros, temorous, from Medieval Latin timōrōsus, from timōr- (the stem of Latin timor (“dread, fear”))^[2] + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’). Timor is derived from timeō (“to be afraid of, fear”) (further origin uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark”)) + -or (suffix forming third-declension masculine abstract nouns). Doublet of timoroso.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪməɹəs/, /ˈtɪmɹəs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Hyphenation: tim‧or‧ous

Adjective

timorous (comparative more timorous, superlative most timorous)

Tending to be easily frightened; shy, timid.
Synonym: (Scotland, dated) timorsome

Antonyms: see Thesaurus:brave
- 1534 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatice vpon the Passion of Chryste (Vnfinished) […]”, in Marye Basset [i.e., Mary Basset], transl., edited by Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1358, column 1:
  But thou now O temerous ⁊ weake ſely ſhepe, thynke yt ſufficient for thee, onely to walke after me, which am thy ſhepehearde ⁊ gouernor: […]
- 1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. XIII. Of Pusillanimitie.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1182, column 1:
  Thys faute of puſillanimitye and tymorous mynde, letteth a man alſo mani tymes from the doynge of manye good thynges, whyche (if he tooke a good ſtomake to hym in the truſt of Gods helpe) he were wel able to do.
- 1600, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book II]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 81:
  [T]hey might thank themſelves onely, & their ovvn timerous conceits & imaginations, that ſuch things vvere ſo dread & terrible.
- 1781, Edward Gibbon, chapter XXVI, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, pages 627–628:
  [I]n the ſtudy of the reign of Theodoſius [I], vve are reduced to illuſtrate the partial narrative of Zoſimus, by the obſcure hints of fragments and chronicles, by the figurative ſtyle of poetry or panegyric, and by the precarious aſſiſtance of the eccleſiaſtical vvriters, vvho, in the heat of religious faction, are apt to deſpiſe the profane virtues of ſincerity and moderation. Conſcious of theſe diſadvantages, vvhich vvill continue to involve a conſiderable portion of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, I ſhall proceed vvith doubtful and timorous ſteps.
- 1785 November (date written), Robert Burns, “To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 202:
  VVee ſleekit, covvrin, tim'rous beaſtie, / Oh, vvhat a panic's in thy breaſtie!
- 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of Animals of the Hare Kind”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume IV, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 3:
  Animals of the hare kind, like all others that feed entirely upon vegetables, are inoffenſive and timorous. As Nature furniſhes them vvith a moſt abundant ſupply, they have not that rapacity after food remarkable in ſuch as are often ſtinted in their proviſion.
- 1838, William H[ickling] Prescott, “Reign of Henry IV, of Castile—Civil War—Marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella”, in History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: American Stationers’ Company; John B. Russell, →OCLC, 1st part (1406–1492), pages 65–66:
  His troops murmured at this timorous policy, and the people of the south, on whom the charges of the expeditions fell with peculiar heaviness, from their neighbourhood to the scene of the operations, complained that "the war was carried on against them, not against the infidel."
- 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, pages 635–636:
  [I]n his later years, he [James II of England] repeatedly, at conjunctures such as have often inspired timorous and delicate women with heroic courage, showed a pusillanimous anxiety about his personal safety.
- 1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Days of Imprisonment”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book II (The Earth under the Martians), 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.
- 1899 October, Seumas MacManus, “The Strong Weakness of Oiney Kittach”, in The Century Illustrated Magazine, volume LVIII, number 6, London: Macmillan & Co. […]; New York, N.Y.: The Century Co. […], →OCLC, page 957, column 2:
  "Upon my word," said Micky, "only I was timorous i' puttin' the good people to too much throuble, I was on the point i' mentionin' the same meself."
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 597:
  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 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC; republished as chapter 6, in Burmese Days (ebook no. 0200051h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, November 2015:
  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.
(archaic) Feeling fear; afraid, fearful, frightened.
Synonyms: apprehensive; see also Thesaurus:afraid

Antonyms: brave, daredevil, dauntless, temerarious, untimorous; see also Thesaurus:unafraid
- 1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. XVI. Of Hym that were Moued to Kyl Himself by Illusion of the Dyuel, which He Rekened for a Reuelation.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, pages 1195–1196:
  He [the Devil] marketh well […] mennes complexions within thẽ [them], health, or ſicknes, good humours or badde, by which they be light hearted or lumpiſh, ſtrong hearted, or faynt & fieble of ſpirite, bolde and hardy, or timorous and fearefull of courage.
- 1616, William Browne, “The Fifth Song”, in Britannia’s Pastorals. The Second Booke, London: […] Thomas Snodham for George Norton, […], →OCLC, page 120:
  Men call her Athliot: vvho cannot be / More vvretched made by infelicitie, / Vnleſſe ſhe here had an immortall breath / Or liuing thus, liu'd timerous of death.
- a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “Sonnet VIII”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 37:
  VVeaker I am, vvoe is mee, and vvorſe then you, / You have not ſinn'd, nor need be timorous, […]
- 1750 November 10 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. [65]. Tuesday, October 30. 1750.”, in The Rambler, volume III, Edinburgh: [[…] Sands, Murray, and Cochran]; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1750, →OCLC, page 101:
  Remember, my ſon, that human life is the journey of a day. […] VVe approach them [the gardens of pleasure] vvith ſcruple and heſitation; vve enter them, but enter timorous and trembling; and alvvays hope to paſs through them vvithout loſing the road of virtue, vvhich vve for a vvhile keep in our ſight, and to vvhich vve propoſe to return.
- 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 72.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 357–358:
  [H]e had none of his old cronies to "tackle," and was rather timorous on venturing on Joe; […]
(UK, dialectal)
1. Fastidious in dressing.
2. Fired with intense feeling; passionate.
3. Hard to manage; difficult, tiresome.
(obsolete)
1. Causing dread or fear; dreadful, terrible.
  - 1632, William Lithgow, “The Sixth Part”, in The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland to the Most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia and Affrica, Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, publishers to the University [of Glasgow], published 1906, →OCLC, pages 233–234:
    Well, having past halfe way downewards, wee came to the most scurrile and timorous Discent of the whole passage, where with much difficuty, I set safe the foure Germanes in our narrow Rode hewen out of the craggy Hill; […]
2. Humble, modest; also, showing reverence; respectful, reverent, reverential.

Alternative forms

timerous, timourous (obsolete)

Derived terms

Related terms

timorsome

Translations

tending to be easily frightened — see shy,‎ timid

feeling fear (cognates) — see also afraid,‎ fearful,‎ frightened

Catalan: temorós (ca)
French: timoré (fr)
Italian: timoroso (it)
Occitan temorós (oc)
Portuguese: temoroso (pt)
Spanish: temoroso (es), timorato (es)

fastidious in dressing — see fastidious

fired with intense feeling — see passionate

hard to manage — see difficult,‎ tiresome

References

^ “timorǒus, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “timorous, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “timorous, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

sumotori

[1] “timorǒus, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

[2] “timorous, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “timorous, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

[1]

[2]