Pusillanimity
/pjuːsɪləˈnɪmɪti/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The quality or state of being pusillanimous; the vice of being timid and cowardly, and thus not living up to one's full potential; pusillanimousness. countable, uncountable
"The ſecond property of your excellent ſherris, is the vvarming of the blood, vvhich before (cold & ſetled) left the lyuer vvhite & pale, vvhich is the badge of puſilanimitie and covvardize: but the ſherris vvarmes it, and makes it courſe from the invvards to the partes extreames, […]"
- 2 contemptible fearfulness wordnet
Example
More examples"The idea of his concealment, not only agrees very ill with his reputed divinity, but associates with it something of pusillanimity."
Etymology
From pusillanim(ous) + -ity, from Middle French pusillanimité, from the ecclesiastical Latin pusillanimis, from pusillus (puny) + animus (spirit) + -ous. A translation of the Greek ὀλιγόψυχος (oligópsukhos, “faint-hearted”).