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temerity
in a sentence

show 56 more with this conextual meaning
  • Charleston had the democratic good will to look down on all of its suburbs, but it reserved a very special contempt for the industrial city of North Charleston, which not only had the temerity to be extraordinarily common and depressing but had also borrowed the sacred name.†   (source)
  • I reveal infiltrators in your midst and save you from mortal peril and yet some still retain the temerity to doubt.†   (source)
  • Having achieved my object — that of forcing at least one of the wolves to take cognizance of my existence — I now began to wonder if, in my ignorance, I had transgressed some unknown wolf law of major importance and would have to pay for my temerity.†   (source)
  • She waited till the hand of the watch had passed the third minute, in growing indignation that he should have the temerity to remain idle when he should know by now her rule that no one should exceed the allowed one-minute pause.†   (source)
  • She had the temerity to oppose the popular proposal.
  • Elva had not had the temerity to laugh then, but she remained obdurate in her refusal.†   (source)
  • You should not boast to a better swordsman, else he may decide to punish your temerity.†   (source)
  • But Jose Arcadio Segundo, in an unforeseen burst of temerity, stubbornly kept on with the project.†   (source)
  • Beating against the strings that had been put in without order or concert and had been tuned with temerity, the hammers let go.†   (source)
  • One man had the temerity to grasp Ser Meryn by the wrist, and say, "It is time for all anointed knights to forsake their worldly masters and defend our Holy Faith.†   (source)
  • Colonel Gerineldo Marquez, who fought for defeat with as much conviction and loyalty as he had previously fought for victory, reproached him for his useless temerity.†   (source)
  • With the fierce temerity with which Jose Arcadio Buendia had crossed the mountains to found Macondo, with the blind pride with which Colonel Aureliano Buendia had undertaken his fruitless wars, with the mad tenacity with which Ursula watched over the survival of the line, Aureliano Segundo looked for Fernanda, without a single moment of respite.†   (source)
  • No one would ever have the temerity to think of Gerald O'Hara as a ridiculous little figure.†   (source)
  • He named Clytie as he named them all, the one before Clytie and Henry and Judith even, with that same robust and sardonic temerity, naming with his own mouth his own ironic fecundity of dragon's teeth which with the two exceptions were girls.†   (source)
  • He paused, ready to pounce upon any man who might have the temerity to reply.†   (source)
  • Terror seized me, a horror of my temerity.†   (source)
  • It all lay in the surface of practical anatomy years ago, but no one had the temerity to touch it.†   (source)
  • Baseek was surprised by the other's temerity and swiftness of attack.†   (source)
  • And it seems awful temerity in us two to go marrying!†   (source)
  • At such times my audacity and temerity know no bounds.†   (source)
  • 'I looked up again at the crouching white shape, and the full temerity of my voyage came suddenly upon me.†   (source)
  • Gradually her confidence overcame his backwardness, and he had the temerity to stroke her golden curls with a great hand.†   (source)
  • How could Sue have had the temerity to ask him to do it—a cruelty possibly to herself as well as to him?†   (source)
  • He stared up disapprovingly over his eye-glasses as Mr. Pontellier entered, wondering who had the temerity to disturb him at that hour of the morning.†   (source)
  • It involved much more than just submitting some documents that he could probably prepare in a few days' leave, although it would have been great temerity to ask for time off from the bank just at that time, it was a whole trial and there was no way of seeing how long it might last.†   (source)
  • He had seen much service, been in various engagements, always acquitting himself as an officer mindful of the welfare of his men, but never tolerating an infraction of discipline; thoroughly versed in the science of his profession, and intrepid to the verge of temerity, though never injudiciously so.†   (source)
  • He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: 'Please, sir, I want some more.'†   (source)
  • Cursing his temerity, his heart sinking at the thought of finding himself at any moment face to face with the Emperor and being put to shame and arrested in his presence, fully alive now to the impropriety of his conduct and repenting of it, Rostov, with downcast eyes, was making his way out of the house through the brilliant suite when a familiar voice called him and a hand detained him.†   (source)
  • It would seem from the foregoing exclamation that this uncompromising relative of the lamented Mr F., measuring time by the acuteness of her sensations and not by the clock, supposed Clennam to have lately gone away; whereas at least a quarter of a year had elapsed since he had had the temerity to present himself before her.†   (source)
  • Elizabeth trotted through the open door in the dusk, but becoming alarmed at her own temerity she went quickly out again by another which stood open in the lofty wall of the back court.†   (source)
  • The Americans, who make a virtue of commercial temerity, have no right in any case to brand with disgrace those who practise it.†   (source)
  • His impassive temerity astounds me.†   (source)
  • The boys deserted their sports, and walking fearlessly among their fathers, looked up in curious admiration, as they heard the brief exclamations of wonder they so freely expressed the temerity of their hated foe.†   (source)
  • This decided feat was no sooner accomplished than the woman resumed her sway; Judith looked over the stern to ascertain what had become of the man, and the expression of her eyes softened to concern, next, her cheek crimsoned between shame and surprise at her own temerity, and then she laughed in her own merry and sweet manner.†   (source)
  • An Elizabeth in brain and a Mary Stuart in spirit, she often performed actions of the greatest temerity with a manner of extreme discretion.†   (source)
  • Fortune, however, favours the brave; and this adventurer, who took three grains of quinine a day, had at the end of a month no cause to deplore his temerity.†   (source)
  • "I promised just now to be very amusing; but you see I don't come up to the mark, and the fact is there's a good deal of temerity in one's undertaking to amuse a person like you.†   (source)
  • More than once, before the shore was reached, Mabel repented of her temerity, but Pathfinder encouraged her, and really manifested so much self-possession, coolness, and strength of arm himself, that even a female might have hesitated about owning all her apprehensions.†   (source)
  • Ishmael waved his hand with authority, as he ended, and turned away with the air of one who felt assured, that those he had addressed would not have the temerity to dispute his commands.†   (source)
  • She had been awe-struck at her past temerity, and was struggling to make amends without thinking whether the sin quite deserved the penalty she was schooling herself to pay.†   (source)
  • It was fortunate that the race was of short continuance, and that the white men were much favored by their position, or the Delaware would soon have outstripped all his companions, and fallen a victim to his own temerity.†   (source)
  • A young Indian came bounding through the Huron ranks, leaping into the very centre of the circle, in a way to denote the utmost confidence, or a temerity bordering on foolhardiness.†   (source)
  • The savage Sioux, who heard his words without comprehending their meaning, turned to the speaker and menaced him with death, for his temerity.†   (source)
  • But although Alpatych, frightened at his own temerity in avoiding the stroke, came up to the prince, bowing his bald head resignedly before him, or perhaps for that very reason, the prince, though he continued to shout: "Blackguards!†   (source)
  • A rush was made to the shore, followed by a discharge of fifty arrows and a few fusees, and, on the part of several braves, there was a plain manifestation of a desire to plunge into the water, in order to punish the temerity of their insolent foe.†   (source)
  • She was now literally trembling and panting at this her temerity in such an errant undertaking; her breath came and went quickly, and her eyes shone with an infrequent light.†   (source)
  • Regardless alike of inflicting further injury on their foes, and of the temerity of the act, the Sioux braves bounded forward with a whoop, each man burning with the wish to reap the high renown of striking the body of the dead.†   (source)
  • The truth was, that as she now stood—excited, wild, and honest as the day—her alluring beauty bore out so fully the epithets he had bestowed upon it that he was quite startled at his temerity in advancing them as false.†   (source)
  • A place was reserved for three or four of the principal chiefs, and a few of the oldest of the women, as withered, as age, exposure, hardships, and lives of savage passions could make them, thrust themselves into the foremost circle, with a temerity, to which they were impelled by their insatiable desire for cruelty, and which nothing, but their years and their long tried fidelity to the nation, would have excused.†   (source)
  • The temerity of the woman kens nae bounds.†   (source)
  • These are questions that temerity alone will answer in the affirmative.†   (source)
  • Let the traitor pay with his life for the temerity of his wanton wishes, and let the world know (if haply it shall ever come to know) that Camilla not only preserved her allegiance to her husband, but avenged him of the man who dared to wrong him.†   (source)
  • In one instance, which I cite as a sample of the general spirit, the temerity has proceeded so far as to ascribe to the President of the United States a power which by the instrument reported is EXPRESSLY allotted to the Executives of the individual States.†   (source)
  • …who was insisting upon the keeper's opening the cages, he said to him, "Sir knight, knights-errant should attempt adventures which encourage the hope of a successful issue, not those which entirely withhold it; for valour that trenches upon temerity savours rather of madness than of courage; moreover, these lions do not come to oppose you, nor do they dream of such a thing; they are going as presents to his Majesty, and it will not be right to stop them or delay their journey."†   (source)
  • …thus it was my bounden duty to attack those lions that I just now attacked, although I knew it to be the height of rashness; for I know well what valour is, that it is a virtue that occupies a place between two vicious extremes, cowardice and temerity; but it will be a lesser evil for him who is valiant to rise till he reaches the point of rashness, than to sink until he reaches the point of cowardice; for, as it is easier for the prodigal than for the miser to become generous, so it…†   (source)
  • The first thing he did was to turn round in the cage in which he lay, and protrude his claws, and stretch himself thoroughly; he next opened his mouth, and yawned very leisurely, and with near two palms' length of tongue that he had thrust forth, he licked the dust out of his eyes and washed his face; having done this, he put his head out of the cage and looked all round with eyes like glowing coals, a spectacle and demeanour to strike terror into temerity itself.†   (source)
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