milk-livered

adjective

ˈmilk-ˌli-vərd How to pronounce milk-livered (audio)
Definition of milk-liverednext
archaic
as in afraid
having or showing a shameful lack of courage vented his spleen at those milk-livered men who refused to fight for king and country

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for milk-livered
  1. afraid
  2. yellow
  3. scared
  4. frightened
  5. careful
  6. pusillanimous
  7. unheroic
  8. cowardly
Adjective
  • The Florida International University senior struggled to attend classes and stopped driving – afraid something bad would happen.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 Sep. 2026
  • The 6-foot-6, 238-pounder is basically a gigantic receiver who isn’t afraid to put his hand in the dirt and block.
    — Nick Baumgardner, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of afraid
Adjective
  • While gold is off its record highs from early this year, its price of around $4,400 per ounce is still well elevated versus history, with Goldman Sachs forecasting the yellow metal to reach $4,900 by year-end on the back of central bank buying.
    — Joanna Ossinger, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2026
  • This pass map shows the dangerous positions Rashford has put Shaw into with the ball (yellow arrows) — three are in the box and two are on the edge of it.
    — Laurie Whitwell, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of yellow
Adjective
  • Smelling human hormones of fear, Whistler would have known that Mary was scared.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Across the playground, Star climbed to the top of a slide, then got too scared to come down.
    — Ruby Cramer, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of scared
Adjective
  • Michael was still frightened and disoriented by what had taken place over spring break.
    — Ruby Cramer, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Roosevelt offered frightened and dispirited Americans a vision of a secure future.
    — John T. Shaw, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of frightened
Adjective
  • The Challenges of Caring for a Fireclay Sink However, the same gleaming surface that makes a fireclay sink an anchor of your kitchen design requires a more intentional, careful cleaning routine than some other materials.
    — Blythe Copeland, Martha Stewart, 10 Sep. 2026
  • The premise couldn’t be simpler, though Wollner’s incredible prologue — a careful arrangement of low-event long takes that emphasize how people move through spaces in time — trains our eyes to privilege texture over incident.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of careful
Adjective
  • 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
Definition of pusillanimous
Adjective
  • Yes, Arsenal fan Neel from New Delhi held his nerve on the final day to shake off the persistent and heroic challenge of six-year-old Wilfred — and the meandering, distinctly unheroic challenge of a 51-year-old journalist.
    — Oliver Kay, New York Times, 26 May 2026
  • That larger significance is remarkably unheroic and fatalistic.
    — Gabriel Winslow-Yost, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024
Definition of unheroic
Adjective
  • The cowardly, devious Turgeniev has assimilated to the comforts of the West —that alone is enough for Fyodor to detest him.
    — Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026
  • What’s left is a vaguely political YouTube series afraid of its own tail, incapable of being actually relatable and too cowardly to own the batshit truths of these people’s lives.
    — Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of cowardly
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

milking
milk-livered
milks
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Milk-livered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/milk-livered. Accessed 11 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of patina

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All