as in afraid
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
a craven refusal to deliver the unwelcome news personally
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in coward
a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger
a craven who ran away and left everyone else behind to deal with the crisis
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of craven
Chicago Tribune, 3 July 2025
Unlike the Founders who risked their lives, this bunch, with precious few exceptions, is too craven to risk even their jobs.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 3 July 2025
Scheider returns as Amity Island’s beleaguered police chief, a man still forced to work with Murray Hamilton’s craven mayor, who’s somehow kept his job after keeping the beaches open during the last shark attack.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 21 June 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for craven
Adjective
While health care and food assistance command the most attention, the craven assault on clean energy cannot be minimized.
—Chicago Tribune, 3 July 2025
Unlike the Founders who risked their lives, this bunch, with precious few exceptions, is too craven to risk even their jobs.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 3 July 2025
Scheider returns as Amity Island’s beleaguered police chief, a man still forced to work with Murray Hamilton’s craven mayor, who’s somehow kept his job after keeping the beaches open during the last shark attack.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 21 June 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for craven
Recent Examples of Synonyms for craven
Adjective
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Tempo, tempo, tempo Nix seems afraid to throw an interception.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
23 Sep. 2025
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Investors are both bullish on equities as well as being afraid that there are major downside risks, Deutsche’s Henry Allen said in a note to clients reviewed by Fortune.—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
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We are told that politics is for cowards, literary analysis is for women, education is a system of liberal indoctrination, brave individuals must resist the herd.—
Robert Rubsam,
Vulture,
18 Sep. 2025
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Punk then made his entrance to confront Lynch, calling Rollins a coward for hiding behind his wife.—
Andrew Ravens,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Within hours — in what could only be described as a spineless and cowardly move — the network and those broadcasters took the bait and silenced him.—
Jason Bailey,
Mercury News,
20 Sep. 2025
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And as is true in all fights against cowardly, bullying, thin-skinned autocrats, our weakness was provocative.—
Matt Robison,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 Sep. 2025
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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But other times, a lot of the expressions that people interpret in the film as scared and alarmed or vexed by the invisible forces are the results of things on set that are just bizarre and kind of hilarious.—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
24 Sep. 2025
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We should be prepared for them, but not to be scared of them.—
Robert Salonga,
Mercury News,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The frightened campers are supposed to deliver the scares — but that only works as a set-up if the villain is lurking behind the next tree.—
Brady MacDonald,
Oc Register,
19 Sep. 2025
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Republicans are frightened, too.—
Zachary Schermele,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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In a year of gutless moves by major media companies, this may be the most gutless.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
17 Sep. 2025
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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
Adjective
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That kind of spineless politics is what people are sick of.—
Joel Thayer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 Sep. 2025
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That kind of spineless politics is what people are sick of.—
Oren Oppenheim,
ABC News,
14 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Craven.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/craven. Accessed 28 Sep. 2025.
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