teh-MAIR-ih-tee
Definition
(noun) Excessive confidence or boldness; rashness in the face of danger or opposition without regard for consequences.
Example
The junior analyst had the temerity to challenge the CEO’s projections in front of the entire board — and was proven right six months later.
Word Origin
Temerity derives from the Latin temeritas, meaning “rashness” or “blind chance,” rooted in temere — “rashly” or “by chance” — suggesting action taken without looking, in the dark, without regard for what might be coming. It entered English in the 15th century carrying its full Latin sense of dangerous, heedless boldness — the kind that mistakes the absence of fear for the presence of wisdom.
Fun Fact
The distinction between temerity and courage has fascinated military strategists for centuries — the difference between a soldier who charges because they have assessed the situation and accepted the risk, and one who charges because they simply haven’t thought it through. Napoleon famously said he preferred lucky generals to skillful ones, suggesting that temerity rewarded by fortune is indistinguishable from genius in the history books. The charge of the Light Brigade in 1854 — ordered into a valley of enemy guns through a catastrophic miscommunication — became history’s most celebrated example of temerity mistaken for valor, immortalized by Tennyson in a poem that managed to make a military disaster sound almost admirable.
