cower

verb cow·er \ ˈkau̇(-ə)r \

|Updated on: 11 Jul 2018

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Examples: cower in a Sentence

Definition of cower

cowered; cowering; cowers

intransitive verb

: to shrink away or crouch especially for shelter from something that menaces, domineers, or dismays

They all cowered silently in their places, seeming to know in advance that some terrible thing was about to happen.
—George Orwell

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Examples of cower in a Sentence

They cowered at the sight of the gun.
She was cowering in the closet.
I cowered behind the door.

Recent Examples of cower from the Web

And certainly not the Republicans cowering in Congress.

— yvonne abraham, BostonGlobe.com, "Hey undocumented immigrants, it’s all your fault," 16 June 2018
Officers said people cowered in a corner away from Elifritz or up against a wall behind officers who had formed a physical barrier.

— aimee green, OregonLive.com, "Police officers describe 'pandemonium' during fatal homeless shelter shooting," 11 June 2018
On Snapchat, a student cowering with classmates under their desks records as the gunman, unseen, lets off more than a dozen deafening shots from the hallway or the next classroom over.

— james burnett, Anchorage Daily News, "Mass shootings have started to look, sound and feel the same – and that’s a problem," 17 Feb. 2018
The dinosaur cowers for a couple seconds, then charges at its prey, seemingly undamaged.

— alessandra potenza, The Verge, "Were real dinosaurs as bulletproof as the one in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom?," 19 June 2018
Fay ran to his truck, where his dog cowered on the floor, and took off.

— leah sottile, SFChronicle.com, "Gone ‘squatchin’: How to hunt for Bigfoot," 8 June 2018
After the Liberation, a witness would later recall, a mob came for her, stripping and shearing her, dragging her through town as her teenage daughter cowered behind.

— ann mah, Time, "This Picture Tells a Tragic Story of What Happened to Women After D-Day," 6 June 2018
The lower-middle-class Jews of Weequahic, in Newark, N.J., cower in a second-floor apartment, trying to figure out how to use a gun to defend themselves.

— tina jordan and susan ellingwood, New York Times, "A Philip Roth Reader," 23 May 2018
Characters cower behind large objects and peek around corners, hoping not to catch a glimpse of certain death bearing down on them.

— todd vanderwerff, Vox, "5 things to know about Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," 5 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cower.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of cower

Middle English couren, probably from Middle Low German kūren

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First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

cower Synonyms

Synonyms

cringe, grovel, quail;

Related Words

flinch, recoil, shrink, squinch;

blanch, blench, whiten;

fawn, kowtow, toady;

Synonym Discussion of cower

fawn, toady, truckle, cringe, cower mean to behave abjectly before a superior. fawn implies seeking favor by servile flattery or exaggerated attention.