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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as in cowardly
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of coward
Sam Meas, Boston Herald, 2 Mar. 2026
Maekar refuses, earning a cutting rebuttal from Dunk about the royal upbringing that turned Daeron (Henry Ashton) into a drunken coward and Aerion into an arrogant and cruel madman.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 23 Feb. 2026
James Arthur, The New York Review of Books, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for coward
Noun
Parties aside, the majority of our legislators are cowards.
—Sam Meas, Boston Herald, 2 Mar. 2026
Maekar refuses, earning a cutting rebuttal from Dunk about the royal upbringing that turned Daeron (Henry Ashton) into a drunken coward and Aerion into an arrogant and cruel madman.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 23 Feb. 2026
Adjective
Whoomp, whoomp bumped the coward heart.
—James Arthur, The New York Review of Books, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for coward
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coward
Noun
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As cold fronts continue to pummel the East coast and craven billionaires and mad kings continue to play pickle-ball with our rights, lifting up the light has rarely felt more important.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Obi-Wan, the craven victor, revealing his true self.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The joke is on the cowardly villagers, and on Hoja himself, all of whom now have to live in a village terrorized by two war elephants instead of one.—
Perin Gürel,
The Conversation,
22 Apr. 2026
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Your writing is disgusting and your lack of confronting this team front office head on is an enormous act of cowardly proportions.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
19 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The chicken and beer fiasco in 2011.—
Zach Dean OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
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When the mother cat gets up and steps away from her kittens for a moment, the chickens are right there.—
Hanna Wickes,
Miami Herald,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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This gutless predator not only preyed upon a child ... but then fled from accountability.—
Jesse Sarles,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
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And all the while, our gutless politicians watch from the sidelines so as to not interfere and risk angering their party.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Some also have lost lawyers, dismayed by the pusillanimous behavior of their leaders.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
28 May 2025
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The second believed the United States could attain comprehensive security through military-technological means and saw diplomacy as a quixotic or pusillanimous enterprise that dishonored and weakened the country.—
A. Wess Mitchell,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Coward.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coward. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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