1
as in coward
a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger
denounced as curs those police officers who deserted their posts during the hurricane and its aftermath
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in bastard
a person whose behavior is offensive to others
only a cur would abandon friends in their time of need
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cur
Since switching to bears, Propst and Starks have accumulated a sound, reliable pack of bear dogs-redbones, Walkers, mountain curs and black-and-tans.
—
John McCoy, Outdoor Life, 12 Nov. 2025
Overlooked time and again, the 7-year-old black mouth cur mix has finally been given a new lease on life thanks to Lakeshore PAWS, a nonprofit animal rescue based in Valparaiso, Indiana.
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
His Orlok is more feral and red-blooded than previous iterations, appearing swathed in ursine furs and accompanied by mangy curs.
—Celia Mattison, Vulture, 27 Dec. 2024
His arch nemesis, Richard Nixon, had fled the White House like a diseased cur after the Watergate scandal and in his disappearance from the political scene, Thompson lost perhaps his greatest muse.
—Rory Feehan, SPIN, 9 Nov. 2023
On a blustery Saturday afternoon in April, 18 of 25 groups there had dogs off a leash, including this reporter with her black mouth cur mix, Archer.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Aug. 2023
In 1957, four mountain music players from Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee discovered a shared love for the old mountain curs, and organized a breeding effort that saved the original mountain cur from extinction.
—Kyle Wintersteen, Field & Stream, 30 Jan. 2023
Behind the bar, the enormous portrait of the family’s late dog Rio — a black mouth cur for whom the restaurant is named — watches over the room.
—Sarah Blaskovich, Dallas News, 21 Dec. 2020
Pop it into first gear, low range, and this cur will claw halfway up the Washington Monument with no driver at the wheel.
—John Phillips, Car and Driver, 24 Mar. 2020
John McCoy, Outdoor Life, 12 Nov. 2025
Overlooked time and again, the 7-year-old black mouth cur mix has finally been given a new lease on life thanks to Lakeshore PAWS, a nonprofit animal rescue based in Valparaiso, Indiana.
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
His Orlok is more feral and red-blooded than previous iterations, appearing swathed in ursine furs and accompanied by mangy curs.
—Celia Mattison, Vulture, 27 Dec. 2024
His arch nemesis, Richard Nixon, had fled the White House like a diseased cur after the Watergate scandal and in his disappearance from the political scene, Thompson lost perhaps his greatest muse.
—Rory Feehan, SPIN, 9 Nov. 2023
On a blustery Saturday afternoon in April, 18 of 25 groups there had dogs off a leash, including this reporter with her black mouth cur mix, Archer.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Aug. 2023
In 1957, four mountain music players from Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee discovered a shared love for the old mountain curs, and organized a breeding effort that saved the original mountain cur from extinction.
—Kyle Wintersteen, Field & Stream, 30 Jan. 2023
Behind the bar, the enormous portrait of the family’s late dog Rio — a black mouth cur for whom the restaurant is named — watches over the room.
—Sarah Blaskovich, Dallas News, 21 Dec. 2020
Pop it into first gear, low range, and this cur will claw halfway up the Washington Monument with no driver at the wheel.
—John Phillips, Car and Driver, 24 Mar. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cur
Noun
-
He and the cowards of Congress should be held accountable in the next election cycle.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
11 Jan. 2026
-
Tim Walz and Jacob Frey are cowards who are inciting violence to distract from their own failures.—
Alex Derosier,
Twin Cities,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
However, one quick look at what companies like Boston Dynamics has achieved with robots like the rather creepy dog-like ‘Spot,’ who herds sheep in New Zealand, and the possibilities seem endless.—
Peter Lyon,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
-
While dogs and wolves are genetically almost indistinguishable, the biologist John Bradshaw has studied how vastly different their behavior is.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Drift through the crowd as the smell of smoky jerk chicken and grilled cheese mingles with fresh lumpia, vegan soul bowls, and small-batch kombucha.—
Lewis Nunn,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
-
The Store offers flavors such as buffalo, garlic parmesan, barbecue, sweet chili, Torrington Hot, mango habanero, Jamaican jerk, spicy harissa, lemon pepper, Marsala, spicy Mediterranean, Tunisian buffalo and garlic hot.—
Pamela McLoughlin,
Hartford Courant,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Brewer depicts the world of music impersonators with a fair amount of affection, like the rodeo clowns of late 20th-century America.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Cirque du Soleil is known for its shows featuring acrobats, athletes and clowns – all doing spectacular feats.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The critters who drop in or call the space home range from monarch butterflies, ladybugs and lizards to hummingbirds and bushtits, skunks, opossums and even the occasional mountain lion.—
Caron Golden,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
17 Jan. 2026
-
Thiols are responsible for the distinctive aromas of skunk spray and ripe durian; they’re also added to natural gas to provide a detectable rotten-egg smell at even trace levels.—
Nicola Twilley,
New Yorker,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Chirring insects, cool eels, darting dice snakes in the Volga delta.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Were there lots of snakes around?—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The powerful anticoagulant rat poisons at issue here make up only a handful of products.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
20 Jan. 2026
-
There Are About 20 Species of Hamsters Hamsters belong to the family Cricetidae, which includes voles and lemmings as well as rats and mice.—
Noel Kirkpatrick,
Treehugger,
20 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cur.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cur. Accessed 27 Jan. 2026.
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