cowardice

[ kou-er-dis ]

noun

1. lack of courage to face danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc.

   Synonyms: timidity, pusillanimity

   Antonyms: bravery

cowardice

/ ˈkaʊədɪs /

noun

1. lack of courage in facing danger, pain, or difficulty

Word History and Origins

Origin of cowardice¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English cowardise, from Old French co(u)ardise; equivalent to coward + -ice

Example Sentences

They chose cowardice — and their behavior since Friday shows that they know it.

From Washington Post

For years, I turned over the details of my assault again and again in my mind, recollecting the faces of bystanders, explaining the crowd’s inaction in a layman’s version of the bystander effect — as collective impotence, collective cowardice.

From Vox

The success is examining that which can only be embraced in an acknowledgment of a culture of cowardice and a kind of toxic racism, a self-celebration and entitlement.

From Ozy

It is just one story of many of those whose lives were endangered at the Capitol by the lies, threats, and violence fanned by the cowardice of people who chose personal gain above democracy.

From Washington Post

The cowardice of Rob Portman has done more damage to the Republican Party — and the republic — than the craziness of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

From Washington Post

But when I look out over the crowd now, I also see that they are trapped—trapped by their cowardice.

From The Daily Beast

In the end he told the general he should shoot himself for his cowardice.

From The Daily Beast

But Boehner and the Republicans refused, completely out of cowardice and to spite Obama.

From The Daily Beast

In the back of their patrol car, with her hands cuffed behind her, she mocks their cowardice.

From The Daily Beast

“I think it comes from idiocy and cowardice,” said Whedon of the female superhero problem.

From The Daily Beast

Admiral Byng was afterwards shot in England, on an unjust charge of cowardice in this affair.

From Project Gutenberg

Death, to do him justice, he had met with none of the cowardice he had vaunted, and consistently with his arid cynical soul.

From Project Gutenberg

All that a man could offer, who did not wish to be suspected of rank cowardice, he offered without reservation.

From Project Gutenberg

Cowardice prompted him to remain silent, and something which defied silence prompted him at last to talk.

From Project Gutenberg

It is not for weak beings, who enter into a composition with guilt, and cover selfishness and cowardice with the name of prudence.

From Project Gutenberg