recreants

noun

plural of recreant
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

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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
  1. deserters
  2. cowards
  3. traitors
  4. rebels
  5. chickens
  6. insurgents
  7. renegades
Noun
  • 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
Definition of deserters
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
Definition of cowards
Noun
  • The king refused to look at it, and issued the Proclamation of Rebellion, declaring the colonists traitors and hiring 30,000 German mercenaries to help crush them.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 4 July 2026
  • Just one more thing … this organization does not tolerate traitors!
    — Gina Kalsi, PEOPLE, 24 June 2026
Definition of traitors
Noun
  • He was convicted in 2009 of human rights abuses in the fight against the rebels, and later of corruption charges.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 July 2026
  • He was convicted in 2009 of human rights abuses in the fight against the rebels and, later on, corruption charges.
    — Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 3 July 2026
Definition of rebels
Noun
  • Students can also see goats, chickens and turkeys at the farm, Wieser said.
    — Camryn Dadey, Sacbee.com, 5 July 2026
  • This can include water features with turtles or frogs, bird feeders that attract insect-eating birds like cardinals and chickadees, or keeping chickens.
    — The Spruce, The Spruce, 2 July 2026
Definition of chickens
Noun
  • The establishment’s theory of the case has always been that popular insurgents are too risky, too unpolished, too outside the lane.
    — Tad Devine, Fortune, 7 July 2026
  • Fujimori, 51, is the daughter of late President Alberto Fujimori, who governed the country ​with an iron fist from 1990 to 2000 and was credited with defeating Maoist insurgents and taming runaway hyperinflation.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 4 July 2026
Definition of insurgents
Noun
  • In short, this list reminded me that our radicals and renegades are the best thing about this great nation.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 6 July 2026
  • There are Sixties rock bands like the Sonics and the Small Faces, and pioneering hippie renegades like Love or the Thirteenth Floor Elevators.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 24 June 2026
Definition of renegades
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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Cite this Entry

“Recreants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recreants. Accessed 9 Jul. 2026.

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