as in afraid
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
a chicken-livered newspaper editor who has been afraid to take on the town's powerful business elite
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chicken-livered
Adjective
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While taking your room’s layout and square footage into account, don't be afraid to think outside the box: how can your sitting room function for you?—
Shivani Vyas,
Better Homes & Gardens,
22 Mar. 2025 -
Pay attention to your customers, listen closely, and don’t be afraid to test small, strategic changes.—
Melissa Houston,
Forbes,
22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The look features bright coral eyeshadow covering the eyelid, a fuchsia shade in the crease, and a swipe of fluorescent yellow eyeliner on the outside half of the eye and right under the brow.—
Andrea Park,
Teen Vogue,
20 July 2017
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In addition to selling yellow mustard and hot sauce, the division makes ketchup, onion flavorings and other products.—
Nick Turner,
Bloomberg.com,
19 July 2017
Adjective
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Most lawyers will be too scared of retaliation to even bring lawsuits challenging Trump’s actions.—
Ian Millhiser,
Vox,
29 Mar. 2025
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The pup, Butter, was filmed in September of last year looking scared and nervous around her new kitty sibling, keeping her distance from the feline and hiding away in her owner's arms, as if terrified of the new addition to the family.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The family is frightened, but the soldiers aren’t there to terrorize them.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
28 Mar. 2025
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Financial markets have crashed, consumers are frightened, and deals are paralyzed.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Be careful when handling debris that may have blown into your yard.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
27 Mar. 2025
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My 23-year-old BMW received the same careful attention as my brand new premium cars, and the PURE PPF now provides it with those same protective, anti-aging benefits. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.—
Karl Brauer,
Forbes.com,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Columbia University, through a thoroughly pusillanimous capitulation to a multi-million-dollar threat from the Trump administration, has put that conviction in the grave.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Mar. 2025
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There was no fanfare — indeed no announcement or change in Oscar rules — but a firestorm of controversy resulted, followed by the Academy’s cowardly, pusillanimous silence on the issue.—
Armond White,
National Review,
5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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That larger significance is remarkably unheroic and fatalistic.—
Gabriel Winslow-Yost,
Harper's Magazine,
23 Sep. 2024
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In the world of The Boys, based on the gleefully scabrous 2000s indie comic-book series of the same name by writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, superheroes are real, pop-culture-dominating, and with rare exceptions, entirely unheroic.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
13 June 2024
Adjective
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Those who resort to violence to undermine our state and nation must be held accountable, and our state leaders must reinforce through decisive action that these cowardly attacks will not be tolerated.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2025
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The cowardly capitulation of Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps are negative examples to be learned from.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
29 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Chicken-livered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chicken-livered. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.
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