temerarious
adj/tɛməˈɹɛəɹi.əs/
Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin temerārius (“accidental, casual, rash, reckless”), from temerē (“by chance, at random, rashly”).
1
Characterized by temerity; recklessly daring or bold.
- […] he furthwith by thinſtinct of yͤ ſpirite of god, in repꝛoche of all ſuch temerarious bold & blind iudgement, geuē vpon a mā whoſe inward mind and ſodain change they cannot ſee, ſhoꝛtly proued thē al deceiued, […]1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. Chapter XVII.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, book II, page 1206, column 2:
- To look back upon the past year, and see how little we have striven and to what small purpose; and how often we have been cowardly and hung back, or temerarious and rushed unwisely in; and how every day and all day long we have transgressed the law of kindness;—it may seem a paradox, but in the bitterness of these discoveries, a certain consolation resides.1888, Robert Louis Stevenson, “A Christmas Sermon”, in Across the Plains: With Other Memories and Essays, London: Chatto & Windus, […], published 1892, →OCLC, part IV, pages 314–315:
3 more examples
- It was a very bright, hot winter's day, and try as I might, I could not bring myself to think of any danger. I believe that in this way most temerarious deeds are done; the doer has become insensible to danger, and his imagination is clouded with some engrossing purpose.1910, John Buchan, “A Great Peril and A Great Salvation”, in Prester John, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, →OCLC, page 361:
- With a vicious lunge the elephant swerved to the right to dispose of this temerarious foeman who dared intervene between himself and his intended victim; but he had not reckoned on the lightning quickness that could galvanize those steel muscles into action so marvelously swift as to baffle even a keener eyesight than Tantor’s.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 132:
- Primarily and supremely man is always the pioneer of life, adventuring onward into the unknown, alone with his own temerarious, dauntless soul.1922, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Birth of Sex”, in Fantasia of the Unconscious, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 152:
- Derived terms
- temerariously, temerariousness
- Related terms
- temeritous, temerity, temerous