as in afraid
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
the pacifist was mistakenly accused of being a lily-livered coward
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Recent Examples of lily-livered
Contrary to the nationalist account, resistance has not generally been the result of America’s leaders being weak-kneed and lily-livered.
—
Ronald R. Krebs, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2017
Ronald R. Krebs, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lily-livered
Adjective
-
Umpires, afraid of being overturned, or at least, more aware of the new zone and its limitations, have been calling fewer strikes.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Almost half are personally afraid of losing their job to AI, ranking it among the most acute individual stressors measured in the survey.—
Jessica Guynn,
USA Today,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
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 joke is on the cowardly villagers, and on Hoja himself, all of whom now have to live in a village terrorized by two war elephants instead of one.—
Perin Gürel,
The Conversation,
22 Apr. 2026
-
Your writing is disgusting and your lack of confronting this team front office head on is an enormous act of cowardly proportions.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
19 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
It’s populated by craven, cowardly traitors.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
25 Mar. 2026
-
In a particularly craven twist, this letter enlisted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause to halt or hinder affinity programming in schools.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
20 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Those children hadn’t seemed frightened to me, not visibly anyway.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
1 May 2026
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How Animal Lovers Can Help For readers who have ever bottle-fed a baby animal, comforted a frightened pet or simply paused to watch a deer step out of the woods at dusk, Forest’s story is a familiar kind of heartbreak — and a familiar kind of hope.—
Hanna Wickes,
Charlotte Observer,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Republicans in Congress have become spineless sycophants to a president who only sees the beauty of this country in dollar signs.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
26 Apr. 2026
-
The nagging wife, the angry daughter and the spineless detective.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
There were a number of people who were very, very scared.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
27 Apr. 2026
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From then on, no more physical abuse occurs in front of the camera, though there is tension in the air during many of Joe's scenes, as Michael is scared of standing up to his dad until the very end.—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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This gutless predator not only preyed upon a child ... but then fled from accountability.—
Jesse Sarles,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
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And all the while, our gutless politicians watch from the sidelines so as to not interfere and risk angering their party.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
27 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Lily-livered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lily-livered. Accessed 4 May. 2026.
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