as in fearfulness
a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger
the cowardice shown by political leaders who were willing to give the Nazis whatever they wanted
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Recent Examples of cowardice
This is a courageous act that requires vulnerability over cowardice.
—
Julie Kratz, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
My silence felt like cowardice, stemming from a fear of alienation, of feeling unsafe—exactly what the ADL, unironically, pledges to ameliorate in school settings.
—Sahar Mustafah
august 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.
—Paulina Dedaj, FOXNews.com, 27 Aug. 2025
To dismiss that because of the greater good that followed is moral cowardice plain and simple.
—Kevin Dickinson, Big Think, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cowardice
Julie Kratz, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
My silence felt like cowardice, stemming from a fear of alienation, of feeling unsafe—exactly what the ADL, unironically, pledges to ameliorate in school settings.
—Sahar Mustafah
august 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.
—Paulina Dedaj, FOXNews.com, 27 Aug. 2025
To dismiss that because of the greater good that followed is moral cowardice plain and simple.
—Kevin Dickinson, Big Think, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cowardice
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cowardice
pusillanimity
Noun
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Given the President’s long-standing support for corporate tax cuts and deregulation of industry, this pusillanimity is perhaps not so surprising.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
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Our logrolling, our stumps and their politics, our fisheries, our Negroes and Indians, our boasts and our repudiations, the wrath of rogues and the pusillanimity of honest men, the northern trade, the southern planting, the western clearing, Oregon, and Texas, are yet unsung.—
Mark Edmundson,
Harper’s Magazine ,
12 Dec. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Cowardice.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cowardice. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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