Pluck vs Temerity - What's the difference?
pluck | temerity | Synonyms |
(lb) To pull something sharply; to pull something out
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*1900 , , Ch.I:
*:The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined.
To gently play a single string, e.g. on a guitar, violin etc.
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(lb) To remove feathers from a bird.
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*:Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust.
(lb) To rob, fleece, steal forcibly
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(lb) To play a string instrument pizzicato
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(lb) To pull or twitch sharply.
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To reject at an examination for degrees.
*1847 , , (Jane Eyre)
*:He went to college, and he got— plucked , I think they call it: and then his uncles wanted him to be a barrister, and study the law.
An instance of plucking
The lungs, heart with trachea and often oesophagus removed from slaughtered animals.
Guts, nerve, fortitude or persistence.
(not countable) Reckless boldness; foolish bravery.
* 1569 , Thomas Pearson, trans., "The Second Paradox," in The booke of Marcus Tullius Cicero entituled Paradoxa Stoicorum , T. Marshe (London),
* 1837 , , The Pickwick Papers , ch. 17,
* 1886 , , The Mayor of Casterbridge , ch. 21
* 1913 , , The Return of Tarzan , ch. 21,
(countable) An act or case of reckless boldness.
* 1910 , , "The Blond Beast," Scribner's Magazine , vol. 48 (Sept),
(not countable) Effrontery; impudence.
* 1820 , , Precaution , ch. 30,
Pluck is a synonym of temerity.
As nouns the difference between pluck and temerity
is that pluck is an instance of plucking while temerity is (not countable) reckless boldness; foolish bravery.As a verb pluck
is (lb) to pull something sharply; to pull something out.pluck
English
Verb
Derived terms
* plucker * plucking * pluck upNoun
(-)- ''Those tiny birds are hardly worth the tedious pluck
- He didn't get far with the attempt, but you have to admire his pluck .
Derived terms
* pluckyReferences
* * *Anagrams
*temerity
English
Noun
- Neyther the spightfull temerity and rashnes of variable fortune, nor the envious hart burning and in iurious hatred of mine enemies shold be able once to damnify me.
- One day when he knew old Lobbs was out, Nathaniel Pipkin had the temerity to kiss his hand to Maria Lobbs.
- 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.
- I am surprised that you, sir, a man of letters yourself, should have the temerity so to interrupt the progress of science.
- Draper, dear lad, had the illusion of an "intellectual sympathy" between them.... Draper's temerities would always be of that kind.
- He had very nearly been guilty of the temerity of arrogating to himself another title in the presence of those he most respected.
Synonyms
* (reckless boldness): audacity, foolhardiness, rashness, recklessness * (effrontery): brashness, cheek, gall, chutzpahReferences
* * * * * "temerity" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002) * "
temerity" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007) * * Oxford English Dictionary , second edition (1989) * Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996) * *