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Pusillanimity vs Determination - What's the difference?

pusillanimity | determination |

As nouns the difference between pusillanimity and determination

is that pusillanimity is 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 while determination is the act of determining, or the state of being determined.

pusillanimity

English

Noun

  • 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.
  • * 1685 . : The Spiritual Guide which Disentangles the Soul, and Brings it by the Inward Way To The Getting of Perfect Contemplation and the Rich Treasure of Internal Peace , CHAP. XVIII: [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/molinos/guide.html].
  • 132. And although thou often fallest, and seest thy Pusillanimity , and endeavour to get courage, and afflict not thy self; because what God doth not do in forty Years, he sometimes doth in an instant, with a particular Mystery, that we may live low and humble, and know that ‘tis the Work of his powerful Hand, to free us from Sins.
  • * 1872 , , "Guest's Confession" in The Atlantic Monthly October 1872.
  • What I did through indolence and in some degree, I confess, through pusillanimity , I had a fancy to make it appear (by dint of much whistling, as it were, and easy thrusting of my hands into my pocket) that I did through a sort of generous condescension.

    determination

    Noun

  • The act of determining, or the state of being determined.
  • Bringing to an end; termination; limit.
  • Direction or tendency to a certain end; impulsion.
  • The quality of mind which reaches definite conclusions; decision of character; resoluteness.
  • (countable) The state of decision; a judicial decision, or ending of controversy.
  • (countable) That which is determined upon; result of deliberation; purpose; conclusion formed; fixed resolution.
  • A flow, rush, or tendency to a particular part; as, a determination of blood to the head.
  • (countable) The act, process, or result of any accurate measurement, as of length, volume, weight, intensity, etc.; as, the determination of the ohm or of the wave length of light; the determination of the salt in sea water, or the oxygen in the air.
  • The act of defining a concept or notion by giving its essential constituents.
  • The addition of a differentia to a concept or notion, thus limiting its extent; -- the opposite of generalization.
  • The act of determining the relations of an object, as regards genus and species; the referring of minerals, plants, or animals, to the species to which they belong; classification; as, I am indebted to a friend for the determination of most of these shells.
  • Derived terms

    * cellular determination