From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtemerityte‧mer‧i‧ty /təˈmerəti/ noun [uncountable] formal CONFIDENTwhen someone says or does something in a way that shows a lack of respect for other people and is likely to offend them → audacity He actually had the temerity to tell her to lose weight.
Examples from the Corpus
temerity• Or, very tentatively, and with much temerity, could Wheeler have been wrong?• Many Republicans are exasperated at the vice-president's temerity to ask for all the votes to be counted.• With some temerity, therefore, it seems necessary to make at least a few observations.• I became quite exercised when he had the temerity to ask us to leave the room for one of them.• He was not hurt, so much as indignant that a woman he was beating should have the temerity to fight back.• Alas, mythology usually relates that those who dare to challenge the gods pay a stiff price for their temerity.• Their temerity was hardly less than that of painters who ignored the taboos imposed by convention, their dexterity even greater.had the temerity to• One constable had the temerity to state that we had had nothing to eat since 9.30 a.m.• Ferrari had the temerity to do so with Lauda, another remarkable talent, and Niki didn't put up with it.• Remarkably enough, a few scholars have had the temerity to suggest that these students do have intellectual shortcomings.• Would you believe he had the temerity to suggest that this house is too large for one person?• I became quite exercised when he had the temerity to ask us to leave the room for one of them.• Sir George stamped his conclusions so firmly on the subject that no one had the temerity to question them until the sixties.• A scientist who had the temerity to ask at Philadelphia for one was severely reproved.Origin temerity (1400-1500) Latin temeritas, from temere “in the dark, too quickly and carelessly” 