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
  • Sometimes in big matches, being afraid of taking a risk is the riskiest strategy of all.
    — Kyle Feldscher, CNN Money, 16 July 2026
  • Pay attention to the wash and cut, and don’t be afraid to ditch your plain blue jeans for bolder alternatives.
    — India Roby, Glamour, 15 July 2026
Definition of afraid
Adjective
  • The threshold in such circumstances should be much higher, so the VAR only intervenes if the challenge merits a yellow or red card.
    — Graham Scott, New York Times, 22 July 2026
  • With colors like lilac, pink, red, blue, yellow, and black, there is a Sproos for every personality and every space.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 21 July 2026
Definition of yellow
Adjective
  • Òdódó’s transformation from a naïve and scared young woman into a powerful and influential queen at the king’s court is both remarkable and realistic, and so is her complex relationship with her husband (and captor).
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 July 2026
  • Some nights, when he was stressed or scared, Jean would tell him stories.
    — Juliet Linderman, Fortune, 16 July 2026
Definition of scared
Adjective
  • Perel compares the moment facing today’s executives to the one facing a parent with a frightened child.
    — Sam Birchall, Fortune, 17 July 2026
  • The bear, seemingly frightened, quickly turns away from the boy and continues running, sliding under a boat parked in the driveway.
    — Mason Leib, ABC News, 7 July 2026
Definition of frightened
Adjective
  • After careful physical analysis of six ancient princesses buried beneath the pyramids at Dahshur, researchers now have an answer.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 17 July 2026
  • Be careful when handling debris that may have blown into your yard.
    — CA Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 16 July 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
  • Or maybe the problem is Cape Fear itself for being too cowardly to commit to the certainty that drove the previous versions of this story.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 26 June 2026
  • But even the most perfect Constitution can be undone by the wicked with the help of the bought, the stupid, and the cowardly.
    — Ann Manov, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 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)
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Cite this Entry

“Chicken-livered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chicken-livered. Accessed 22 Jul. 2026.

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