MILK-LIVERED Synonyms: 61 Similar and Opposite Words

milk-livered

adjective

ˈmilk-ˌli-vərd

Definition of milk-livered

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

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for milk-livered

Adjective

The most impressive trick Paranormal Activity pulls off is making an entire theater — devotees and newcomers alike — afraid to look away, and giving them one hell of a good time while doing it.

— Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 26 Aug. 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 afraid

Adjective

Jasper, and a yellow Cessna plane Hig’s been tuning up, with ambitions to fly straight into the Telluride mountains and kill himself — because, who cares, your life is over anyway.

— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 25 Aug. 2026
In the kitchen, bright yellow tiles; and in the lounge, a large print Old fell in love with 10 years prior.

— Ella Field, Better Homes & Gardens, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of yellow

Adjective

Punk exploded in front of a handful of scared-to-death dirtsheet reporters who were out of their league, mimicking a helpless Tony Khan.

— Alfred Konuwa, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
She gets caught up in a custody battle over her son, Albee, who is autistic and obsessed with the ocean but scared of swimming.

— Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of scared

Adjective

Hilton’s sister, Barbara Giarraffa, frightened fans and TikTok moderators were among those who called authorities.

— Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
Parents at evacuation centers in the village said many children were afraid to return indoors and woke up frightened whenever aftershocks rattled the island.

— ABC News, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of frightened

Adjective

Apply the serum directly to sparse areas of your brows, being careful to avoid letting the product touch other areas of your skin.

— Iman Balagam, Vogue, 27 Aug. 2026
According to the researchers, careful process design and optimization as well as architecture simplification could help in solving most of these issues, something that industrial production focuses on much more than academic researchers.

— Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 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

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
The trans actor Elliot Page plays Sinon, a poor boy from Ithaca who is brave enough to travel with Odysseus in place of the cowardly aristocrat Antinous, played by Robert Pattinson.

— Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, 24 July 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.

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milking

milk-livered

milks

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“Milk-livered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/milk-livered. Accessed 28 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of milk-livered

adjective

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