as in hesitation
lack of willingness to assert oneself and take risks
none of the scouts showed the least timidity about rappeling down the cliff
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Recent Examples of timidity
The Bulls took 18 fewer shots than the Celtics as a direct result of their timidity on the glass, grabbing only six offensive rebounds to Boston’s 20.
—
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
Enmired in the self-satisfactions and unnamed timidities of childhood, Galinda finds in herself neither canniness nor the need to cultivate it.
—Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 30 Nov. 2025
Enmired in the self-satisfactions and unnamed timidities of childhood, Galinda finds in herself neither canniness nor the need to cultivate it.
—Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 25 Nov. 2025
Reverence for the past, and reluctance to destroy until the risks of destruction are fully known, is not timidity but wisdom, in architecture as in life.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2025
The timidity of the tactics was utterly shameful.
—Steve Madeley, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2025
Indulgence can tip over into self-indulgence all too easily; holding back can result in a timidity that makes a song sound at odds with its subject.
—Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2025
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
Enmired in the self-satisfactions and unnamed timidities of childhood, Galinda finds in herself neither canniness nor the need to cultivate it.
—Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 30 Nov. 2025
Enmired in the self-satisfactions and unnamed timidities of childhood, Galinda finds in herself neither canniness nor the need to cultivate it.
—Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 25 Nov. 2025
Reverence for the past, and reluctance to destroy until the risks of destruction are fully known, is not timidity but wisdom, in architecture as in life.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2025
The timidity of the tactics was utterly shameful.
—Steve Madeley, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2025
Indulgence can tip over into self-indulgence all too easily; holding back can result in a timidity that makes a song sound at odds with its subject.
—Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for timidity
Noun
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Over time, this hesitation creates cognitive overload, last-minute scrambling and fewer growth opportunities for other leaders.—
Dilan Gomih,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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According to Tuff, what causes leaders to miss these paradigm shifts is not ignorance but hesitation.—
Connie Etemadi,
USA Today,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The construction plans have generally raised fears that the London complex could serve as a Beijing intelligence hub.—
Bonny Chu,
FOXNews.com,
14 Jan. 2026
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Several Venezuela residents told TIME that the fear of what might be discovered on their phone at a checkpoint has guided their behavior in the days since Maduro's ouster.—
Brian Bennett,
Time,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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So having another person in her space was always a little surprising, even if the curator, gazing at her with his usual mix of mild reproach and gauzy concern, seemed not abundantly different from the empty chair.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
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While health has always been a personal concern, now there are more ways for leadership to support these habits through intentional programming.—
Serenity Gibbons,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Apple has been caught in the fray on worries that a tight memory cycle will eat into hardware gross margins, given that products such as iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Macs heavily use DRAM and NAND flash memory.—
Pia Singh,
CNBC,
29 Jan. 2026
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There are significant worries that AI can readily go off the rails or otherwise dispense unsuitable or even egregiously inappropriate mental health advice.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Somehow, this new sensation emitted an awareness of the magnitude in which skateboarding would warp my life, which only ratcheted up the anxiety of blowing it.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 Jan. 2026
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The news this week that an ICE agent had shot and killed a woman in Minnesota heightened his anxiety.—
Andrea Castillo,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Timidity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/timidity. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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