Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective pusillanimous differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of pusillanimous are cowardly, craven, and dastardly. While all these words mean "having or showing a lack of courage," pusillanimous suggests a contemptible lack of courage.

the pusillanimous fear of a future full of possibility

Where would cowardly be a reasonable alternative to pusillanimous?

In some situations, the words cowardly and pusillanimous are roughly equivalent. However, cowardly implies a weak or ignoble lack of courage.

a cowardly failure to stand up for principle

When might craven be a better fit than pusillanimous?

While the synonyms craven and pusillanimous are close in meaning, craven suggests extreme defeatism and complete lack of resistance.

secretly despised her own craven yes-men

In what contexts can dastardly take the place of pusillanimous?

The words dastardly and pusillanimous can be used in similar contexts, but dastardly often implies behavior that is both cowardly and treacherous or skulking or outrageous.

a dastardly attack on unarmed civilians

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of pusillanimous 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 In this instance, though, the Administration is not attempting to trample on powerless civil servants or migrants, or pusillanimous law firms, or universities that don’t have as much money as Harvard does. John Cassidy, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025 Columbia University, through a thoroughly pusillanimous capitulation to a multi-million-dollar threat from the Trump administration, has put that conviction in the grave. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2025 There was no fanfare — indeed no announcement or change in Oscar rules — but a firestorm of controversy resulted, followed by the Academy’s cowardly, pusillanimous silence on the issue. Armond White, National Review, 5 Mar. 2025 Mark Kelly Americans who are rightfully appalled by the pusillanimous response to anti-Semitism on college campuses have been pulling their donations and calling for restrictions on anti-Israel student groups. Arthur Levitt, WSJ, 12 Nov. 2023 Those clumsy tales revealed Chazelle’s pusillanimous career ambitions. Armond White, National Review, 13 Jan. 2023 This is a remarkably pusillanimous way of framing the case. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pusillanimous
Adjective
  • Like Tracy, the high school student, Jordan was afraid of the overpass.
    Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 17 June 2025
  • She’s Got No Name marks a definite shift in tone and mood for the 40-year veteran who has never been afraid of jumping genres, from the romance of Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996) to the action of The Warlords (2007) and on to the comedy of American Dreams in China (2013).
    Mathew Scott, HollywoodReporter, 16 June 2025
Adjective
  • The disconnect between Trump’s stagings of brute force is striking and more than a little worrisome for those who have long thought civilian control of the military would have stopped such a craven choice.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 11 June 2025
  • To abet Trump’s fake reality, the craven House Republicans refused to put up a plaque honoring the police officers and others who defended the Capitol that awful day.
    Maureen Dowd, Mercury News, 4 June 2025
Adjective
  • The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's Supreme Leader.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 19 June 2025
  • Those who resort to violence to undermine our state and nation must be held accountable, and our state leaders must reinforce through decisive action that these cowardly attacks will not be tolerated.
    Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Instead, federal authorities are hiding, apparently too frightened of online provocateurs and in-person hecklers to do their duty in plain sight.
    Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2025
  • Others who live close to the jail were downright frightened.
    Chris Kenning, USA Today, 17 June 2025
Adjective
  • Listen, by doing it this way, with a press release instead of a press conference, Rose looks both gutless and gutty at the same time.
    Mike Lupica, New York Daily News, 6 June 2025
  • Two baseballs flew down toward the San Diego Padres’ Jurickson Profar from the left-field corner stands, the gutless moves of two cowards.
    Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • An erect, sprawling, and spineless cactus, the flowers are white, fragrant, and measure 12 inches long and 8 inches wide.
    Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 15 June 2025
  • Some House Democrats have called their party spineless.
    Alex Travelli, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Remember, this animal is likely scared too. Do not move toward the shark.
    Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2025
  • The story itself is stripped to bone and sinew: a sleepy New England beach town that wants tourist dollars more than truth, an invisible killer in plain water, and three men — one scared sheriff, one cocky scientist, one Ahab of a fisherman — set adrift to settle nature’s score.
    Philip Martin, Arkansas Online, 19 June 2025
Adjective
  • The look features bright coral eyeshadow covering the eyelid, a fuchsia shade in the crease, and a swipe of fluorescent yellow eyeliner on the outside half of the eye and right under the brow.
    Andrea Park, Teen Vogue, 20 July 2017
  • Three prominent Austin chefs teamed up with the Youngblood family to build a new restaurant from scratch that looks like a legacy chicken dinner house, down to the bright blue-and-yellow colors and the helpings of hot yeast rolls with honey.
    Bud Kennedy, star-telegram, 19 July 2017

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Cite this Entry

“Pusillanimous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pusillanimous. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.

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