recreant

[ rek-ree-uhnt ]

/ ˈrɛk ri ənt /

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adjective

cowardly or craven.

unfaithful, disloyal, or traitorous.

noun

a coward.

an apostate, traitor, or renegade.

Nearby words

Origin of recreant

1300–50; Middle English < Old French, adj. and noun use of present participle of recreire to yield in a contest, equivalent to re- re- + creire < Latin crēdere to believe

SYNONYMS FOR recreant

1. dastardly, pusillanimous, base, faint-hearted, yellow. 2. faithless, untrue, apostate. 3. dastard.

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ANTONYMS FOR recreant

1. brave. 2. loyal. 3. hero.

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Related formsrec·re·ance, rec·re·an·cy, nounrec·re·ant·ly, adverbun·rec·re·ant, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for recreant

Though I admit so much, I am not a recreant from the doctrine I then preached.
An Autobiography|Anthony Trollope
She looked directly at her recreant lover, and he never saw her.
Was It Right to Forgive?|Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
I assumed she had come to give me wholly undeserved thanks for revenging her upon her recreant husband.
Ainslee's magazine, Volume 16, No. 2, September, 1905|Various
Second, the law of the land, or statute law, and Tanner is recreant to both.
Abraham Lincoln, Volume 2 (of 2)|William H. Herndon

It seemed to him that every one would see in his face that he was a recreant priest, perjured and forsworn.
The Golden House|Charles Dudley Warner

British Dictionary definitions for recreant

recreant

/ (ˈrɛkrɪənt) archaic /

adjective

cowardly; faint-hearted

disloyal

noun

a disloyal or cowardly person

Derived Formsrecreance or recreancy, nounrecreantly, adverb

Word Origin for recreant

C14: from Old French, from recroire to surrender, from re- + Latin crēdere to believe; compare miscreant

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for recreant

recreant

adj.

c.1300, "confessing oneself to be overcome or vanquished," from Old French recreant "defeated, vanquished, yielding, giving; weak, exhausted; cowardly," present participle adjective from recroire "to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance," literally "believe again;" perhaps on notion of "take back one's pledge, yield one's cause," from re- "again, back" (see re-) + croire "entrust, believe," from Latin credere (see credo).

Non sufficit ... nisi dicat illud verbum odiosum, quod recreantus sit. [Bracton, c.1260]

Meaning "cowardly" in English is from late 14c. Meaning "unfaithful to duty" is from 1640s.

recreant

"one who yields in combat, one who begs for mercy, one who admits defeat," early 15c., hence "coward, faint-hearted wretch;" from recreant (adj.) and from Old French recreant as a noun, "one who acknowledges defeat, a craven, coward, renegade, traitor, wretch." In English, sense of "apostate, deserter, villain" is from 1560s.

recreant

adjective

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of recreant

Examples from the Web for recreant

recreant

adjective

noun

Word Origin for recreant

recreant

recreant