recreants

plural of recreant
1
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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for recreants
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
Noun
  • In reality, the refs just do the bidding of the cowards behind the curtain.
    Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 14 July 2026
  • These are American cowards that are rooting against our Country.
    Khaled Wassef, CBS News, 13 May 2026
Noun
  • Those who opposed the coup, like Tom Keith's grandfather, are still often thought of as traitors, just as his distant relatives are.
    Lee Cowan, CBS News, 12 July 2026
  • Irina and Raskova will enjoy a long, successful professional collaboration, purging Star City of traitors and threats and bringing down Petrovsky in a plot that leads to his ending his life in ignominy, having confessed to crimes against the state.
    Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 10 July 2026
Noun
  • Oil prices are rising after the United States conducted an 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military targets and Houthi rebels in Yemen threatened to disrupt a crucial escape hatch for Saudi Arabia’s oil exports.
    Arpita Dasika, CNN Money, 22 July 2026
  • Strait of Hormuz remains key A new pressure point could emerge for world energy markets as Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced on Monday a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia.
    Jon Gambrell, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2026
Noun
  • Both properties — the rubble pile and Pryor’s home, alive with puppies and chickens — are on the list of houses for which Adak Eagle received subsidies to connect to the internet.
    Kyle Hopkins, ProPublica, 20 July 2026
  • One of Noe’s younger boys stood on a ladder under the orange tree, plucking fruit from the branches and chucking them to the ground, scattering the chickens.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 July 2026
Noun
  • One of the insurgents, a doctoral student in sociology named Darializa Avila Chevalier, is far more emblematic of the DSA’s radicalism.
    James Kirchick, The Atlantic, 21 July 2026
  • So far though, the prediction market insurgents have not meaningfully cut into sportsbook profits.
    Bobby Allyn, NPR, 17 July 2026
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
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 24 Jul. 2026.

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