as in cowardly
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
his dastardly conduct in a critical moment haunted him for the rest of his life
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example 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 dastardly
For starters, Rate-A-Queen is back — no surprise after the success of the dastardly Plane Jane versus the hero Nymphia Wind.
—
Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 3 Jan. 2025
There is a chance too that an outsider broke into the internals of AI and made dastardly changes.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024
LifeLock’s Home Title Monitoring warns of several variations of that dastardly attack.
—PCMAG, 27 Nov. 2024
If the evildoers weren’t readily allowed access to the AI, the barrier to their dastardly ways would be stiffened.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 20 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for dastardly
Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 3 Jan. 2025
There is a chance too that an outsider broke into the internals of AI and made dastardly changes.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024
LifeLock’s Home Title Monitoring warns of several variations of that dastardly attack.
—PCMAG, 27 Nov. 2024
If the evildoers weren’t readily allowed access to the AI, the barrier to their dastardly ways would be stiffened.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 20 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for dastardly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dastardly
Adjective
-
Nothing is spared in recounting their odious criminal acts and the cowardly machinations of the church’s leadership to hide them.—
Mary Jo McConahay,
New York Times,
15 Feb. 2025
-
May God comfort the families of the victims, heal the injured and protect humanity from those who dare to commit such cowardly acts of mass violence.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Their jewelry speaks to women who aren’t afraid to express their individuality.—
Sandra Salibian,
WWD,
17 Feb. 2025
-
Moving safely from the clouds to this perch required a steep angle, a dexterous pilot, and passengers more afraid of missing the film festival than of death upon impact.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Fresh off a terrifying election cycle that feels like a fever dream (or the most craven Ryan Murphy series), America in 2025 is downright disorienting.—
Christopher Rosa,
Glamour,
14 Feb. 2025
-
Trump has already turned a national tragedy into a craven, baseless political attack by blaming DEI programs at the FAA and past administrations.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
31 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
The Europeans seem presently more hurt than scared.—
Tom Rogers,
Newsweek,
21 Feb. 2025
-
Ingram had to miss the final 19 games of the regular season, but the Pelicans weren’t scared away by the issue.—
Shane Young,
Forbes,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Why do so many people love to be frightened and unnerved?—
Jeremy Engle,
New York Times,
19 Feb. 2025
-
But can dogs actually be frightened of heights like some humans?—
Matt Robison,
Newsweek,
18 Feb. 2025
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
-
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
-
Three prominent Austin chefs teamed up with the Youngblood family to build a new restaurant from scratch that looks like a legacy chicken dinner house, down to the bright blue-and-yellow colors and the helpings of hot yeast rolls with honey.—
Bud Kennedy,
star-telegram,
19 July 2017
Adjective
-
That larger significance is remarkably unheroic and fatalistic.—
Gabriel Winslow-Yost,
Harper's Magazine,
23 Sep. 2024
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Dastardly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dastardly. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share