Adjacent Words

Cowardly definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COWARDLY, a.
1. Wanting courage to face danger; timid; timorous; fearful; pusillanimous.
2. Mean; base; befitting a coward; as a cowardly action.
3. Proceeding from fear of danger; as cowardly silence.
COWARDLY, adv. In the manner of a coward; meanly; basely.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted; "cowardly dogs, ye will not aid me then"- P.B.Shelley [syn: cowardly, fearful] [ant: brave, courageous]

Merriam Webster's

I. adverb Date: 14th century in a cowardly manner II. adjective Date: 1551 being, resembling, or befitting a coward <a cowardly retreat> • cowardliness noun Synonyms: cowardly, pusillanimous, craven, dastardly mean having or showing a lack of courage. cowardly implies a weak or ignoble lack of courage <a cowardly failure to stand up for principle>. pusillanimous suggests a contemptible lack of courage <the pusillanimous fear of a future full of possibility>. craven suggests extreme defeatism and complete lack of resistance <secretly despised her own craven yes-men>. dastardly often implies behavior that is both cowardly and treacherous or skulking or outrageous <a dastardly attack on unarmed civilians>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & adv. --adj. 1 of or like a coward; lacking courage. 2 (of an action) done against one who cannot retaliate. --adv. archaic like a coward; with cowardice. Derivatives: cowardliness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cowardly Cow"ard*ly, a. 1. Wanting courage; basely or weakly timid or fearful; pusillanimous; spiritless. The cowardly rascals that ran from the battle. --Shak. 2. Proceeding from fear of danger or other consequences; befitting a coward; dastardly; base; as, cowardly malignity. --Macaulay. The cowardly rashness of those who dare not look danger in the face. --Burke. Syn: Timid; fearful; timorous; dastardly; pusillanimous; recreant; craven; faint-hearted; chicken-hearted; white-livered.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cowardly Cow"ard*ly, adv. In the manner of a coward. --Spenser.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe someone as cowardly, you disapprove of them because they are easily frightened and avoid doing dangerous and difficult things. I was too cowardly to complain. ...a cowardly act of violence. ? brave, courageous ADJ [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. Pusillanimous, dastardly, craven, fearful, timorous, timid, coward, recreant, base, faint-hearted, chicken-hearted white-livered, showing the white feather. II. ad. Pusillanimously, timorously, basely, meanly, cravenly.

Moby Thesaurus

abulic, afraid, anemic, asthenic, bashful, bloodless, caitiff, chicken, chickenhearted, coward, cowed, craven, dastardly, daunted, debilitated, diffident, dismayed, drooping, droopy, dull, effete, etiolated, faint, fainthearted, faintish, fearful, fearing, fearsome, feeble, feebleminded, flabby, flaccid, floppy, frail, frightened, funking, funky, gone, goosy, gutless, henhearted, imbecile, impotent, in fear, infirm, intimidated, invertebrate, jumpy, languid, languorous, lily-livered, limber, limp, listless, lustless, marrowless, milk-livered, milksoppish, milksoppy, mousy, namby-pamby, nerveless, nervous, overtimid, overtimorous, panic-prone, panicky, pigeonhearted, pithless, pliable, poltroon, poltroonish, pooped, powerless, pusillanimous, rabbity, recreant, rubbery, sapless, scared, scary, shaky, shivery, shrinking, shy, sinewless, sissified, sissy, skittery, skittish, slack, soft, spineless, spunkless, startlish, strengthless, timid, timorous, trembling, tremulous, trepidant, trigger-happy, unhardened, unmanly, unmanned, unnerved, unstrung, vile, weak, weak-kneed, weak-minded, weak-willed, weakhearted, weakly, white-livered, worthless, yellow