as in cowards
a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger
a staunch hawk during the drumbeat for war, he proved to be a chicken when it came to actually fighting it
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Recent Examples of chickens
Quincy and Juniper Lee-Berry demonstrated poultry showmanship and talked about good bedding materials for chickens at the meeting.
—
Tracy Trobridge, Baltimore Sun, 5 Apr. 2026
That bacteria lives naturally in the gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts of chickens, said Kimberly Baker, associate extension specialist at Clemson University.
—ABC News, 2 Apr. 2026
My niece requested an extra five minutes to say goodbye to the chickens and my nephew insisted on plucking just one more lemon from the yard.
—Lara Kramer, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Apr. 2026
In fact, many collagen supplements are made by extracting collagen from the bones, skin, and feet of chickens.
—Lindsey Desoto, Health, 1 Apr. 2026
And eventually, the chickens are going to come to roost with that.
—Miami Herald, 30 Mar. 2026
The parts that are truly unusable go to a nearby farm to be fed to the chickens.
—Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 27 Mar. 2026
Only three chickens died in the bombing, Miguel said, pointing to clumps of feathers between broken bricks.
—Eduardo Cuevas, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2026
The store also had organic whole chickens, but no conventional variety.
—Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
Tracy Trobridge, Baltimore Sun, 5 Apr. 2026
That bacteria lives naturally in the gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts of chickens, said Kimberly Baker, associate extension specialist at Clemson University.
—ABC News, 2 Apr. 2026
My niece requested an extra five minutes to say goodbye to the chickens and my nephew insisted on plucking just one more lemon from the yard.
—Lara Kramer, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Apr. 2026
In fact, many collagen supplements are made by extracting collagen from the bones, skin, and feet of chickens.
—Lindsey Desoto, Health, 1 Apr. 2026
And eventually, the chickens are going to come to roost with that.
—Miami Herald, 30 Mar. 2026
The parts that are truly unusable go to a nearby farm to be fed to the chickens.
—Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 27 Mar. 2026
Only three chickens died in the bombing, Miguel said, pointing to clumps of feathers between broken bricks.
—Eduardo Cuevas, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2026
The store also had organic whole chickens, but no conventional variety.
—Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chickens
cowards
Noun
-
Parties aside, the majority of our legislators are cowards.—
Sam Meas,
Boston Herald,
2 Mar. 2026
-
And Trump calls ’em almost like cowards.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
24 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chickens.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chickens. Accessed 10 Apr. 2026.
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