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
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
6 Feb. 2026
Good intentions run into craven expectations, however, and invariably, the types of terrible choices and consequences that, in Soto’s admirably unsentimental narrative style, wouldn’t be out of place in either a silent-era disaster comedy or a darkly tragic indie.
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Robert Abele,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Jan. 2026
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
Obi-Wan, the craven victor, revealing his true self.
—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for craven
Adjective
Assad’s betrayal was so breathtakingly craven that some people had trouble believing it at first.
—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
6 Feb. 2026
Good intentions run into craven expectations, however, and invariably, the types of terrible choices and consequences that, in Soto’s admirably unsentimental narrative style, wouldn’t be out of place in either a silent-era disaster comedy or a darkly tragic indie.
—
Robert Abele,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
In 2024, The Onion purchased Infowars, the conspiracy website born of the craven lunatic/Sandy Hook shooting denier Alex Jones.
—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
Obi-Wan, the craven victor, revealing his true self.
—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for craven
Recent Examples of Synonyms for craven
Adjective
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That's the part so many seem afraid to say out loud.
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The people who worked for cooperatives were particularly afraid.
Noun
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Fishback showed up at a Donalds campaign event in Lake City on Saturday with a bunch of supporters, shouting through a bullhorn that Donalds was a coward for not debating him and telling him to go back to New York, a reference to Donalds’ childhood in Brooklyn.
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Tyland may have gotten Triarchy pirate Admiral Sharako Lohar on Team Green’s side, but at his core this man is a coward.
Adjective
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But even the most perfect Constitution can be undone by the wicked with the help of the bought, the stupid, and the cowardly.
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Lindsey Graham is a career, corrupt, cowardly politician.
Adjective
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Some also have lost lawyers, dismayed by the pusillanimous behavior of their leaders.
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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.
Adjective
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Still, farmworkers across the country are scared to go to work.
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In Utah, doctors continue to reassure scared patients and lobby for better public health policy.
Adjective
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Rodríguez acknowledged that many remain too frightened to return home even after inspections declared some buildings safe.
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Some days are spent inside an Ebola Treatment Unit caring for patients who are frightened, isolated, and desperately ill.
Adjective
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Trump’s revenge tour also took down five Indiana state senators who had voted against the midterm gerrymandering to which Florida’s gutless Republicans have agreed.
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Keane called out the Red Wings as gutless for waiting for a home game to exact revenge.
Adjective
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Some of Thomas’s critique appeared to be aimed at weak-willed conservatives, including his fellow-Justices, for being, as Thomas perceives it, too spineless to stand up for the ideals enshrined in the Declaration.
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Republicans in Congress have become spineless sycophants to a president who only sees the beauty of this country in dollar signs.
Cite this Entry
“Craven.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/craven. Accessed 28 Jun. 2026.
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