chicken-livered

adjective

ˈchi-kən-ˌli-vərd How to pronounce chicken-livered (audio)
Definition of chicken-liverednext
as in afraid
having or showing a shameful lack of courage a chicken-livered newspaper editor who has been afraid to take on the town's powerful business elite

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for chicken-livered
  1. afraid
  2. yellow
  3. scared
  4. frightened
  5. careful
  6. pusillanimous
  7. unheroic
  8. cowardly
Adjective
  • Trump notched some significant wins, like the end of the old asylum system and a suite of progressive tax cuts, which Democrats are afraid to run against.
    — David Weigel, semafor.com, 4 Nov. 2026
  • On November 1, King Charles was left umbrella-less in a torrential downpour in Antigua and Barbuda—and wasn’t afraid to show his frustration.
    — Rachel Burchfield, InStyle, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of afraid
Adjective
  • Important this year is the image of the brilliant yellow daffodil, of which the city plans to plant 250,000 bulbs in the coming months.
    — John Ramos, CBS News, 8 Nov. 2026
  • This fungus is brilliant yellow and is easy to spot on dead wood.
    — Pamm Cooper, Hartford Courant, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of yellow
Adjective
  • Stiven said his wife feels scared and doesn't want to leave their home, but the couple wants to share what happened to her for one reason.
    — Dawn White, CBS News, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Otherwise the public realm will grow safer in exactly the wrong way — because people are too scared to use it.
    — Justin Davidson, Curbed, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of scared
Adjective
  • Defense challenges claims of disruption Sabatini sought to undermine the university’s account by distinguishing between students feeling frightened and actual interruptions to academic activities.
    — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2026
  • Trust is how that knowledge reaches the next child, and the next frightened mother.
    — Michelle A. Williams, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of frightened
Adjective
  • There’s that Japanese concept of space and pause—in the wide corridors, the uncluttered lobby, the careful symmetry.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Nov. 2026
  • The first step was to tailor it to her size, while being careful to preserve the bespoke construction.
    — Bella Webb, Vogue, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of careful
Adjective
  • Some also have lost lawyers, dismayed by the pusillanimous behavior of their leaders.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2025
  • 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
Definition of pusillanimous
Adjective
  • Yes, Arsenal fan Neel from New Delhi held his nerve on the final day to shake off the persistent and heroic challenge of six-year-old Wilfred — and the meandering, distinctly unheroic challenge of a 51-year-old journalist.
    — Oliver Kay, New York Times, 26 May 2026
  • That larger significance is remarkably unheroic and fatalistic.
    — Gabriel Winslow-Yost, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024
Definition of unheroic
Adjective
  • That was scuttled after the Houthis launched cowardly and deadly attacks on civilian targets in Riyadh and other Saudi Arabian cities.
    — Brian Sullivan, CNBC, 29 Oct. 2026
  • To know that a torture as violent as rape is about to happen ‘upstairs’ and not do ANYTHING ABOUT IT, is sick, cowardly and cold.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of cowardly
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.

Browse Nearby Words

Chicken Littles
chicken-livered
chicken (out)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Chicken-livered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chicken-livered. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

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