cowardly

[ kou-erd-lee ]

adjective

1. lacking courage; contemptibly timid.

   Synonyms: scared, afraid, fearful, chicken-hearted, lily-livered, white-livered, fainthearted, pusillanimous, dastardly, poltroon, craven

   Antonyms: brave

2. characteristic of or befitting a coward; despicably mean, covert, or unprincipled:

   a cowardly attack on a weak, defenseless man.

adverb

1. like a coward.

cowardly

/ ˈkaʊədlɪ /

adjective

1. of or characteristic of a coward; lacking courage

Derived Forms

• ˈcowardliness, noun

Other Words From

• coward·li·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cowardly¹

First recorded in 1325–75 cowardly fordef 3, and in 1550–60 cowardly fordef 1; Middle English adverb couardli, couarli, couherdeli, is derivative of the adjective couard coward + -ly ( def )

Synonym Study

Cowardly, timid, timorous refer to a lack of courage or self-confidence. Cowardly means weakly or basely fearful in the presence of danger: The cowardly wretch deserted his comrades in battle. Timid means lacking in boldness or self-confidence even when there is no danger present: a timid person who stood in the way of his own advancement. Timorous suggests a timidity based on an exaggeration of dangers or on an imaginary creation of dangers: timorous as a mouse.

Example Sentences

“It was cowardly, the way Chris and Guy went about this,” Ioffe said.

From The Daily Beast

For them, the cowardly cynicism of the status quo will do just fine.

From The Daily Beast

According to the historian John Saunders, he was a “weak, vain, incompetent and cowardly” leader.

From The Daily Beast

Trying to put the onus onto someone else for your own decisions is really cowardly and kind of dishonest.

From The Daily Beast

Nothing could be more cowardly than to gun down three unarmed innocents, including a 14-year-old boy.

From The Daily Beast

If it were not for the cowardly fear of being thought timid, there would be more care used in such matters.

From Project Gutenberg

But when he saw there were but two of them he mentally cursed the four escorts who had so cowardly left him to his fate.

From Project Gutenberg

Isn't this free-booting spirit, now, better than leading a cowardly life of musty regularity?

From Project Gutenberg

None would have believed that the cowardly monster Fear was for ever feasting upon his heart.

From Project Gutenberg

But, there is a beardless youth, follow'd by a cowardly serving man, who presses hard to see you.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dastardly