Trending: ‘temerity’

Temerity spiked in lookups on January 21st, 2020, courtesy of the linguistic cornucopia that is the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. In his remarks at the beginning of the trial, White House counsel Pat Cipollone stated the following:

"And Mr. Schiff said, 'Have I got a deal for you. Abandon all your constitutional rights, forget about your lawyers, and come in and do exactly what I say. No thank you. No thank you. And then he says, he has the temerity to come into the Senate and say 'We have no use for courts.'"

Temerity is “unreasonable or foolhardy contempt of danger or opposition” or “a rash or reckless act.” If your lexicographer is waxing a touch poetic it may also be defined as “rash venturesomeness.” In use since the 15th century, temerity may be traced to the Latin word temere, meaning "blindly, recklessly, haphazardly.” The adjective, meaning “marked by temerity,” is temerarious.

The timidity of the Supreme Court is sadder than the temerity of Congress, because there are in the latter an enthusiasm and a courage which do not exist in the former.
— The Detroit Free Press, 22 Mar. 1868