as in craven
a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger
the soldiers who ran as soon as the first shots were fired were branded as cowards
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as in cowardly
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of coward
Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, 11 Mar. 2025
This is a cop novel that fully satisfies its genre expectations — chases, gun battles, sinister bad guys, questionable cops, cowards and heroes.
—Claude Peck, Boston Herald, 16 Mar. 2025
If Republicans refuse to do that, then their constituents can rest assured that their representatives are cowards and liars.
—Letters To The Editor, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Mar. 2025
People who didn’t know the backstory were calling her parents cowards and demanding their imprisonment.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for coward
Noun
There is no way a coward like Musk is in a position to accuse Sen. Kelly of being a traitor.
—Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, 11 Mar. 2025
This is a cop novel that fully satisfies its genre expectations — chases, gun battles, sinister bad guys, questionable cops, cowards and heroes.
—Claude Peck, Boston Herald, 16 Mar. 2025
If Republicans refuse to do that, then their constituents can rest assured that their representatives are cowards and liars.
—Letters To The Editor, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Mar. 2025
People who didn’t know the backstory were calling her parents cowards and demanding their imprisonment.
—Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for coward
Recent Examples of Synonyms for coward
Adjective
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The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's Supreme Leader.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
19 June 2025
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Those who resort to violence to undermine our state and nation must be held accountable, and our state leaders must reinforce through decisive action that these cowardly attacks will not be tolerated.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Public safety should never be a game of political chicken.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
28 June 2025
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The chicken was very tender, the corn sweet, and the whole dish had great flavor.—
Sarah Martens,
Better Homes & Gardens,
28 June 2025
Adjective
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Listen, by doing it this way, with a press release instead of a press conference, Rose looks both gutless and gutty at the same time.—
Mike Lupica,
New York Daily News,
6 June 2025
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Two baseballs flew down toward the San Diego Padres’ Jurickson Profar from the left-field corner stands, the gutless moves of two cowards.—
Bill Plaschke,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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Some also have lost lawyers, dismayed by the pusillanimous behavior of their leaders.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
28 May 2025
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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
Adjective
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The disconnect between Trump’s stagings of brute force is striking and more than a little worrisome for those who have long thought civilian control of the military would have stopped such a craven choice.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
11 June 2025
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To abet Trump’s fake reality, the craven House Republicans refused to put up a plaque honoring the police officers and others who defended the Capitol that awful day.—
Maureen Dowd,
Mercury News,
4 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Coward.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coward. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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