recreant 1 of 2

Definition of recreantnext
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recreant

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noun

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as in coward
a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger the historian reserved his greatest contempt for those recreants who opposed the witch hunt but lacked the courage to speak out against it

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

3

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for recreant
Adjective
  • Umpires, afraid of being overturned, or at least, more aware of the new zone and its limitations, have been calling fewer strikes.
    Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Almost half are personally afraid of losing their job to AI, ranking it among the most acute individual stressors measured in the survey.
    Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • Russell fabricates a lie with the rest of the villains, and the heroes believe it, despite a warning from one traitorous tribemate.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Dec. 2025
  • That video drew the ire of President Donald Trump, who deemed it traitorous.
    Mike Wall, Space.com, 25 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • The love story of a Confederate deserter (Jude Law) journeying back to his North Carolina home and his love (Nicole Kidman) drives the Civil War drama.
    Brian Truitt, USA Today, 7 Mar. 2026
  • During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln pardoned many Union deserters; after it, Andrew Johnson blanket pardoned nearly all Confederate soldiers.
    Willem Marx, Vanity Fair, 18 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • According to the referee report, Bright used a racial slur that is slang for punk or coward.
    Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 21 Apr. 2026
  • Time constraints once again strike here, but there’s also the fact that the movie drops the plot’s true twist — that Grace is a coward — only a few minutes before.
    Matthew Razak, Space.com, 23 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • As the castle’s internal order collapses under the weight of a string of baffling crimes, Araki strikes a fragile alliance with Kuroda Kanbei – a razor-minded captive languishing in his own dungeon – in a race to root out a traitor before Oda’s army closes in.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 14 Apr. 2026
  • In the context of his time, Jesus was considered a traitor — an enemy of the Roman Empire.
    Michael J Christensen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Those children hadn’t seemed frightened to me, not visibly anyway.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 May 2026
  • How Animal Lovers Can Help For readers who have ever bottle-fed a baby animal, comforted a frightened pet or simply paused to watch a deer step out of the woods at dusk, Forest’s story is a familiar kind of heartbreak — and a familiar kind of hope.
    Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • The boy’s mother, Tommi Jo Mejer, 50, of Aliso Viejo, was arrested days after the accident and charged with child endangerment, accessory after the fact, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing false information to a peace officer.
    Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2026
  • The boy’s mother, 50-year-old Tommi Jo Mejer of Aliso Viejo, was later arrested and charged with felony child endangerment, being an accessory after the fact and several misdemeanors, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing false information to a peace officer.
    Sydney Barragan, Oc Register, 1 May 2026
Noun
  • To distinguish itself from all the other renegade action shows out there, showrunner Kyle Killen echoes his project’s cinematic predecessor, albeit with hollow results.
    Ben Travers, IndieWire, 30 Apr. 2026
  • The film stars renegade country singer Elizabeth Cook as a fictionalized version of herself, portraying an artist navigating midlife while contending with an industry that has never fully embraced her.
    Kennedy French, Variety, 28 Apr. 2026
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Recreant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recreant. Accessed 3 May. 2026.

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