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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Recent Examples of coward
Jack Fink, CBS News, 8 Mar. 2026
John Cornyn is a coward who has refused to support abolishing the filibuster to pass this bill.
—Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Mar. 2026
James Arthur, The New York Review of Books, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for coward
Noun
John Cornyn is a coward who has refused to support abolishing the filibuster to pass this bill.
—Jack Fink, CBS News, 8 Mar. 2026
John Cornyn is a coward who has refused to support abolishing the filibuster to pass this bill.
—Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Mar. 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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In 2024, The Onion purchased Infowars, the conspiracy website born of the craven lunatic/Sandy Hook shooting denier Alex Jones.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
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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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But the real luxury here is the rice, swollen with chicken broth, haunted by ginger and good enough to eat on its own.—
Ligaya Mishan,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
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One man even left raw chicken in a pan with a bowl of water on the sidewalk for the bear.—
Brittney Ermon,
CBS News,
11 May 2026
Adjective
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The result leaves nearly every performer fumbling for traction in Serkis and Stoller’s muddy-yet-gutless cinematic sty.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
30 Apr. 2026
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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
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 17 May. 2026.
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