Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The character of being rash; inconsiderate or presumptuous haste; headstrong precipitation in decision or action; temerity; unwarranted boldness.
  • noun A rash act; a reckless or foolhardy deed.
  • noun Synonyms Rashness, Temerity. Rashness has the vigor of the Anglo-Saxon, temerity the selectness and dignity of the Latin. Temerity implies personal danger, physical or other: as, the temerity of undertaking to contradict Samuel Johnson; temerity in going upon thin ice. Rashness is broader in this respect. Roshness goes by the feelings without the judgment; temerity rather disregards the judgment. Temerity refers rather to the disposition, rashness to the conduct. See adventurous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being rash.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality of state of being rash; inconsiderate or presumptuous haste; headstrong precipitation in decision or action; temerity; unwarranted boldness.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the trait of giving little thought to danger
  • noun the trait of acting rashly and without prudence

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word rashness.

Examples

  • Afforded no opportunity on that journey to kill Claudius, he discovers the unexpected, an occasion to make use of what he calls rashness:

    Shakespeare Bevington, David 2002

  • My impatience was so great that, in spite of Gabriel's displeasure at what he called my rashness, I would not stay in London on the way, but we travelled straight down, reaching Fletcher's Hall at midnight.

    The Wings of Icarus Alma Tadema, Laurence 1894

  • Your father was friendly to me and tried to persuade me against what he called rashness; but I always fancied he might have helped my mother, backed her up more, and I did not heed him.

    A Crooked Path A Novel Mrs. Alexander 1863

  • I believe, if examined into, it would be found too generally to owe its original to ungoverned fancy; and were we to judge of it by the consequences that usually attend it, it ought rather to be called rashness, inconsideration, weakness, and thing but love; for very seldom, I doubt, is the solid judgment so much concerned in it, as the airy fancy.

    Pamela 2006

  • Their lives have lost, your rashness is the cause.

    La Chanson de Roland : Translated from the Seventh Edition of Léon Gautier L��once [Translator] Rabillon

  • Their lives have lost, your rashness is the cause.

    National Epics Kate Milner Rabb 1901

  • Your rashness has been the cause of our destruction.

    National Epics Kate Milner Rabb 1901

  • In Pym's pages the ladies were the most virtuous and proper of their sex (though dreadfully persecuted), but he merely told you so at the beginning, and now and again afterwards to fill up, and then allowed them to act with what may be called rashness, so that the story did not really suffer.

    Tommy and Grizel 1898

  • My spirit apprehends instinctively the right and the true; and through life I have relied on intuitions; which some have called a rashness, recommending colder cautions; but these latter have seldom paid their way.

    My Life as an Author Tupper, Martin F 1886

  • I am sorry that you should think me rash, if the idea of rashness is unpleasant to you -- I will make any other concession in reason rather than quarrel with you.

    Taquisara 1881

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.