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
-
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 -
More important, though, is the fact that the judge who posited that hordes of deserters could follow Vovchenko’s example seems to be overstepping his role.—
Air Mail,
Air Mail,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
He and the cowards of Congress should be held accountable in the next election cycle.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
11 Jan. 2026
-
Tim Walz and Jacob Frey are cowards who are inciting violence to distract from their own failures.—
Alex Derosier,
Twin Cities,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Twenty-three stars will try to deduce who the traitors are among them.—
Brendan Le,
PEOPLE,
9 Jan. 2026
-
The J6ers were not insurrectionists, traitors, and miscreants but patriots, heroes, and innocents.—
Jamie Thompson,
The Atlantic,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
By providing only air cover for the rebels, our intervention left the situation on the ground to the local competing forces, tribes and militias, which were divided then and remain divided to this day.—
Thomas L. Friedman,
Mercury News,
6 Jan. 2026
-
He's accused of running a network that partnered with violent groups including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, Colombian FARC rebels and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang.—
Kathryn Palmer,
USA Today,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Bird flu, a highly contagious airborne respiratory virus, affects poultry — including chickens, ducks and turkeys — and some wild bird species, including geese and shorebirds, the department said.—
Laura Fay,
CBS News,
11 Jan. 2026
-
The chickens and cows Mills owns live in his backyard.—
Abigail Hasebroock,
Sun Sentinel,
10 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
In the eighties, Petro was a member of the M-19, urban insurgents who caught the world’s attention by taking the American Ambassador and more than a dozen other foreign diplomats hostage for two months.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
New Yorker,
15 Jan. 2026
-
Syria’s al-Assad went down after Israel gutted Lebanese Hezbollah, following which Turkish aided and directed insurgents representing a minority of the country marched into Damascus.—
Eliot A. Cohen,
The Atlantic,
4 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
But a few renegades creatively defected across the pond, looking instead at America for inspiration.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
23 Sep. 2025
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VCs raining money on said brilliant renegades, despite signals that the market wasn’t quite mature enough and money was being lit on fire?—
Cortney Harding,
Forbes.com,
25 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Recreants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recreants. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.
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