timorous

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective timid by nature or revealing timidity

Etymology

From Late Middle English timorous (“(adjective) fearful, frightened; causing fear, dreadful, terrible; deferential, modest; (noun) timid people collectively”), borrowed from Old French temoros, temorous, from Medieval Latin timōrōsus, from timōr- (the stem of Latin timor (“dread, fear”)) + -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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

fearful, trepid

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