pusillanimity

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”).

pusillanimity (countable and uncountable, plural pusillanimities)

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.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     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, […]

   • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Vertues Commonly Called Intellectual; and Their Contrary Defects”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Of Man), page 33:

     […] Puſillanimity; by vvhich that ſeems great to him, vvhich other men think a trifle: and vvhatſoever is nevv, or great, and therefore thought fit to be told, vvithdravves a man by degrees from the intended vvay of his diſcourſe.

   • 1685. Dr. Michael de Molinos: 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: .

     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.

   • 1776, Edward Gibbon, “I, Part III”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:

     Instead of being confined within the walls of fortified cities, which the Romans considered as the refuge of weakness or pusillanimity, the legions were encamped on the banks of the great rivers, and along the frontiers of the barbarians.

   • 1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, […], →OCLC:

     their hectorings against an absent enemy, and their pusillanimity on his approach

   • 1872 October, Henry James, “Guest's Confession”, in The Atlantic Monthly:

     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.

• pusillanimous
• pusillanimousness
• faint-heartedness