1
as in deserters
a person who abandons a cause or organization usually without right
traditionally armies have dealt harshly with recreants, with execution being a common punishment for desertion during wartime
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cowards
a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger
the historian reserved his greatest contempt for those recreants who opposed the witch hunt but lacked the courage to speak out against it
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in traitors
one who betrays a trust or an allegiance
a spy and recreant to his country
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for recreants
Noun
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And within his own country’s history, particularly, Dhont discovered the fates that met would-be deserters who were caught — brutal sentences often leading to death.—
David Canfield,
HollywoodReporter,
12 May 2026 -
Harry Truman granted amnesty to certain World War II deserters, while Jimmy Carter granted pardons to hundreds of thousands of individuals who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War.—
Stewart Ulrich,
The Conversation,
15 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
These are American cowards that are rooting against our Country.—
Khaled Wassef,
CBS News,
13 May 2026
-
And Trump calls ’em almost like cowards.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
12 May 2026
Noun
-
Both groups were accused of being spies, traitors and collaborators, according to the report.—
Sam Metz,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
-
When news of Israel’s secret outposts in Iraq’s desert emerged, Iraqis admonished their leaders as traitors, and the boisterous militiamen affiliated with the government as impostors for allowing their land to be colonized by an enemy.—
Nabil Salih,
Time,
26 May 2026
Noun
-
Cuba’s nationalization wave began soon after Fidel Castro’s rebels took control of the island in 1959.—
Max Saltman,
CNN Money,
4 June 2026
-
Gangs, rebels, and soldiers started massacring elephants, sometimes from military helicopters.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
3 June 2026
Noun
-
Water receptacles across the facility were reported to be dirty, including a bowl shared by 15 goats, a turkey, seven chickens, a llama and a potbellied pig, which contained brownish-black sediment and thick green algae.—
Moná Thomas,
PEOPLE,
4 June 2026
-
More than 22 resident heritage breed chickens provide eggs for omelets, breakfast burritos, and frothy cocktails.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
Noun
-
After Daft Punk’s rise from underground dance music heroes to chart-topping pop insurgents, Bangalter followed different muses in different directions.—
Andy Battaglia,
ARTnews.com,
8 June 2026
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That legacy includes crushing both hyperinflation and the Maoist insurgents of the Shining Path, who bathed Peru in blood in the 1980s and 1990s.—
Simeon Tegel,
NPR,
6 June 2026
Noun
-
People didn’t come to the series with a working knowledge of the State Department, ready to see what the renegades were like.—
Debora Cahn,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
-
The men who once styled themselves renegades increasingly resembled every other hyper-online young guy—gaming, memeing, trading.—
Clara Molot,
Vanity Fair,
17 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Recreants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recreants. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
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