as in cowardly
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
his dastardly conduct in a critical moment haunted him for the rest of his life
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Recent Examples of dastardly
Trump keeps clamoring for a Nobel Peace Prize, but his hopes are delusional since his incompetent dealings with Putin and Netanyahu have enabled them to continue their dastardly deeds.
—
Chicago Tribune, 21 Aug. 2025
The movie became a cause célèbre for the downtrodden treatment of the creative class in Hollywood, with many names coming out in support of the movie and its dastardly fate.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 20 Aug. 2025
Serial killers with a code, far-future space operas, superheroes doing battle with dastardly villains.
—Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
The bi-tone bezel, incidentally, is the key to keeping track of dastardly deeds in two different time zones simultaneously.
—Chris Haslam, Wired News, 23 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for dastardly
Chicago Tribune, 21 Aug. 2025
The movie became a cause célèbre for the downtrodden treatment of the creative class in Hollywood, with many names coming out in support of the movie and its dastardly fate.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 20 Aug. 2025
Serial killers with a code, far-future space operas, superheroes doing battle with dastardly villains.
—Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
The bi-tone bezel, incidentally, is the key to keeping track of dastardly deeds in two different time zones simultaneously.
—Chris Haslam, Wired News, 23 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for dastardly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dastardly
Adjective
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Now innocent children are dying because so many people were too cowardly to speak up.—
Suzanne Blake,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Aug. 2025
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The rest of the statement was full of equally cowardly equivocation.—
Sahar Mustafah
August 27,
Literary Hub,
27 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
When people aren’t afraid to flag phishing emails, report missteps or question suspicious behavior, organizations become more adaptive and resilient.—
Aliasgar Dohadwala,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
-
According to new research from SoFi, 44% of students and parents feel uninformed about student loans but are probably too afraid to ask questions.—
Brian Walsh,
Fortune,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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There are lots of good rebuttals to this craven move.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
5 Aug. 2025
-
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is under severe pressure from President Donald Trump to restart one of the most craven and self-destructive practices of American politics in the 21st century: predatory gerrymandering.—
Matt Robison,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 July 2025
Adjective
-
Families are scared of being torn apart.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Sep. 2025
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Ain’t nobody scared of them boys.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
31 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Using towels and a garden hose fitted with a piece of wood, the rescuers guided the frightened kitten through the winding pipes.—
Ronnie Li,
USA Today,
5 Sep. 2025
-
When 17 children from one classroom inexplicably run out into the night, a frightened insular community starts pointing fingers at their young schoolteacher (Julia Garner) and the sole survivor, Alex (Cary Christopher).—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
4 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
-
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
-
Native viburnums, such as Arrowwood and Blackhaw, show off red, yellow and purple foliage in the fall, along with berries that also become winter bird feeders.—
Chris McKeown,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
6 Sep. 2025
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In late summer, stop watering and when the leaves start to yellow, cut them about 2 inches above the bulb.—
Paul Cappiello,
Louisville Courier Journal,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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That larger significance is remarkably unheroic and fatalistic.—
Gabriel Winslow-Yost,
Harper's Magazine,
23 Sep. 2024
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In the world of The Boys, based on the gleefully scabrous 2000s indie comic-book series of the same name by writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, superheroes are real, pop-culture-dominating, and with rare exceptions, entirely unheroic.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
13 June 2024
Cite this Entry
“Dastardly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dastardly. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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