as in cowardly
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
the new biography casts the romanticized outlaw in a much more vicious and unheroic light
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Recent Examples of unheroic
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
And if the moderate theory appears cautious and unheroic, well, it's got nothing on the unheroic inactivity of most Republicans hoping to defang Trumpism, who have convinced themselves that the way to avoid a worse replay of the 2020 endgame is not to fight him openly at all.
—Ross Douthat New York Times, Star Tribune, 7 June 2021
But rational reasoning is no way to reach Josephine, as the adults around her discover one by one — beginning with Spencer, played with commendably unheroic tetchiness by Harington, as his sensitive support gradually sours into parental oneupmanship.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 2 Feb. 2023
From the costumes to the makeup, from visual effects to sound design, the goal was to be as realistic as possible and underscore the movie’s anti-war and deliberately unheroic depiction of an ordinary soldier in battle.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2023
John’s figures are wood stained in unheroic reality.
—Bob Guccione Jr, SPIN, 17 Feb. 2023
Capturing that horror, and giving a very unheroic cinematic vision of war, was one of the main goals for director Edward Berger in his new, German-language adaption of All Quiet on the Western Front.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Sep. 2022
Its stars still burn brightly—perhaps especially so in our own gruesomely unheroic times—with Ernest Shackleton considered by many to be the brightest star of them all.
—Sara Wheeler, WSJ, 11 Jan. 2022
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
And if the moderate theory appears cautious and unheroic, well, it's got nothing on the unheroic inactivity of most Republicans hoping to defang Trumpism, who have convinced themselves that the way to avoid a worse replay of the 2020 endgame is not to fight him openly at all.
—Ross Douthat New York Times, Star Tribune, 7 June 2021
But rational reasoning is no way to reach Josephine, as the adults around her discover one by one — beginning with Spencer, played with commendably unheroic tetchiness by Harington, as his sensitive support gradually sours into parental oneupmanship.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 2 Feb. 2023
From the costumes to the makeup, from visual effects to sound design, the goal was to be as realistic as possible and underscore the movie’s anti-war and deliberately unheroic depiction of an ordinary soldier in battle.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2023
John’s figures are wood stained in unheroic reality.
—Bob Guccione Jr, SPIN, 17 Feb. 2023
Capturing that horror, and giving a very unheroic cinematic vision of war, was one of the main goals for director Edward Berger in his new, German-language adaption of All Quiet on the Western Front.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Sep. 2022
Its stars still burn brightly—perhaps especially so in our own gruesomely unheroic times—with Ernest Shackleton considered by many to be the brightest star of them all.
—Sara Wheeler, WSJ, 11 Jan. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unheroic
Adjective
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Instead, the anti-death penalty interests in this country conduct their arguments in insidious and even cowardly ways, all in effort to avoid a clear yes or no debate about the death penalty itself.—
Benedict Cosgrove,
Newsweek,
18 Dec. 2024
-
Social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
17 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Just look at the Salem Witch Trials, which targeted people who weren’t afraid to live somewhat unconventional lives, like women who were financially-independent or unmarried.—
Roya Backlund,
StyleCaster,
24 Jan. 2025
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Democrats and Republicans are afraid that their civil rights and their civil liberties are in jeopardy and look to the courts to protect their 14th and 15th Amendment rights.—
John Yoo and John Shu,
Newsweek,
24 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Growers reported a drop in workers showing up to their jobs, and advocacy groups saw a surge of frightened families show up to legal workshops on how to protect themselves against deportation.—
Rachel Uranga,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Jan. 2025
-
When Julia arrived with a can of cat food, the first kitten had already been adopted, but the second—a frightened and feisty tabby—was still there.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
Newsweek,
12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
Between the lines: One view is that these actions are simply craven pandering.—
Felix Salmon,
Axios,
13 Jan. 2025
-
The main one is that the powerbrokers in the MLB offices are craven, and their souls have been replaced with line graphs going up and up and up.—
Grant Brisbee,
The Athletic,
18 July 2024
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
-
Read Next Florida Shelter thought dog was scared — but something else was wrong.—
Simone Jasper,
Miami Herald,
15 Jan. 2025
-
Advertisement Thirty years ago, Blake was himself a scared kid.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
15 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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And the really jaw-dropping part of AMLO’s gutless abdication?—
Tim Padgett,
Sun Sentinel,
18 Aug. 2024
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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
Adjective
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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
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There is a chance too that an outsider broke into the internals of AI and made dastardly changes.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes,
27 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near unheroic
Cite this Entry
“Unheroic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unheroic. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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