coward 1 of 2

as in craven
a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger the soldiers who ran as soon as the first shots were fired were branded as cowards

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

coward

2 of 2

adjective

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of coward
Noun
In the process, Cain also dropped a truth bomb on her audience which might qualify as the spiciest Zelda take of 2024: Skyward Sword was good, and all the haters are just cowards. Samantha Riedel, Them, 2 Oct. 2024 Queensland police say the coward assaulted the infant at Hanlon Park in Stones Corner around noon on Aug. 27. Bradford Betz, Fox News, 10 Sep. 2024 Walz, who graduated from Chadron State College in Nebraska, mocked Vance's Ivy League education and Silicon Valley employment before effectively calling him a coward in front of a national television audience. Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 7 Aug. 2024 Called a coward, Booth decides to reveal himself as Lincoln’s killer. Keith Phipps, Vulture, 5 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for coward 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coward
Adjective
  • Because, in this land of weak governments and cowardly corporations, the Coastal Commission is the rare California institution with a spine.
    Joe Mathews, The Mercury News, 8 Nov. 2024
  • The latter has become a franchise so hobbled by its cowardly inability to commit to anything other than its original characters (especially the Skywalkers) and ideas (good versus evil) that it’s basically become stuck inside itself.
    Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2024
Noun
  • All that's left to do now is sit back and enjoy a barbecue chicken pizza.
    Keith Pandolfi, The Enquirer, 5 Nov. 2024
  • This recipe stars shredded chicken, and is then complemented by Northern beans, green enchilada sauce, and a poblano chile.
    Krissy Tiglias, Southern Living, 5 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • Two baseballs flew down toward the San Diego Padres’ Jurickson Profar from the left-field corner stands, the gutless moves of two cowards.
    Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2024
  • Putin’s machismo posturing, additionally, is undergirded by a view of Russia as a country of real men opposing a pampered, gutless, and decadent West.
    Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 1 Mar. 2015
Adjective
  • Mark Kelly Americans who are rightfully appalled by the pusillanimous response to anti-Semitism on college campuses have been pulling their donations and calling for restrictions on anti-Israel student groups.
    Arthur Levitt, WSJ, 12 Nov. 2023
  • Those clumsy tales revealed Chazelle’s pusillanimous career ambitions.
    Armond White, National Review, 13 Jan. 2023
Adjective
  • Since then, Trump has regularly lobbed attacks at the military and its top leaders, accusing them of being politically craven and operationally incompetent.
    Ronald R. Krebs, Foreign Affairs, 28 Sep. 2021
  • The callousness of investigators, the craven police interrogation methods that seek to discount the memory of survivors by insisting the truth hinges on minute details and the vitriol of a misogynistic public are all on display in Black Box Diaries.
    Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Oct. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near coward

Cite this Entry

“Coward.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coward. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

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