When he worked with that timorous vice president, for example, Mr. Grupper urged her to think about colleagues who commanded attention and respect.

WSJ: A Broadway Performer Helps Make Business an Act of Will

The reporter turns into a sappy parody of timorous liberalism.

WSJ: Film Review

India has had a few of these in the 1990s, and some say that prime ministers who know their tenures will be short try to get more done than the timorous and long-serving.

ECONOMIST: Aim higher

But European boards are not timorous.

ECONOMIST: Executive pay