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
Examples of cowardly in a Sentence
Adjective
He insisted on avoiding a cowardly retreat.
She made a cowardly decision to go along with the group.
a cowardly attack from behind
Recent Examples on the Web
Adverb
My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly.—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 20 June 2024 By cowardly backing away from Hamas because of a few votes.—Benjamin Weinthal, Fox News, 9 May 2024
Adjective
Whether that decision was wise, cowardly, respectful, or cowardly for different reasons, rests in the eye of the beholder (or the eye of anyone pointedly not beholding).—Joe Berkowitz, Vulture, 23 May 2024 Many of the suits, including Wednesday’s, focused on the cowardly law enforcement response, in which more than 300 officers converged on the scene but waited 70 minutes to confront the shooter.—Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 22 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for cowardly
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cowardly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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