How to Use cower in a Sentence

cower

verb
  • They cowered at the sight of the gun.
  • I cowered behind the door.
  • She was cowering in the closet.
  • Fay ran to his truck, where his dog cowered on the floor, and took off.
    Leah Sottile, SFChronicle.com, 8 June 2018
  • They aren’t taught to cower to the police or to be afraid of the police.
    Longreads, 10 July 2017
  • Back at the truck, Jahrig and I cower in the shade, drinking water.
    Christine Peterson, Outdoor Life, 23 Nov. 2020
  • Most of us think stressed dogs cower or tuck their tails.
    Cathy M. Rosenthal, San Antonio Express-News, 5 Jan. 2018
  • Yet the owner of the 40-year-old punk shop The Alley isn’t cowering.
    Corilyn Shropshire, chicagotribune.com, 24 Apr. 2018
  • Nights are for cowering in the cold and rain while clinging to steely straight basalt cliffs.
    Craig Welch, National Geographic, 28 Mar. 2019
  • Faced with this kind of abuse, many people would cower.
    Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 12 June 2023
  • As neighbors cowered in their homes, one of the Maoists ran a blade across Megh’s throat and severed his head.
    Sean Williams, Harper's Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Biden will be the one to determine whether Democrats spend the next two decades cowering in fear of what the Supreme Court might do.
    Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 6 Oct. 2023
  • The elephants seem to be cowering and trying to run away from the keepers.
    National Geographic, 14 Apr. 2017
  • The elephants seem to be cowering and trying to run away from the keepers.
    National Geographic, 14 Apr. 2017
  • Passengers scream and cower in their seats as the two men roll into the tiny aisle, fighting to the death.
    Jen Spyra, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2021
  • But rather than cower in fear, there’s a confident air about each of them.
    Jenna Wang, Peoplemag, 24 Feb. 2024
  • Others see the same unleashed dog and their instinct is to cower in fear or run away.
    Logan Jenkins, sandiegouniontribune.com, 20 Oct. 2017
  • The camera sticks with Ivy, who runs and cowers behind a fountain as shots ring out.
    Kat Rosenfield, PEOPLE.com, 11 Oct. 2017
  • There’s the sound of gunfire truly worthy of a war zone as people scream and run and cower, with nowhere to go.
    Rich Lowry, National Review, 3 Oct. 2017
  • There are hardcore Bengals fans who pace around the living room and scream at the TV in a way that makes pets cower in the closet.
    Rasputin Todd, The Enquirer, 12 Jan. 2024
  • In the end, Gunman saves its real judgment for the men who cowered in her shadow.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 13 Oct. 2023
  • In the second car, Danielle Boyles, 27, a preschool teacher from South Africa, cowered under an abaya.
    Declan Walsh, New York Times, 5 May 2023
  • Sugars and around 30 others now cowered on the floor as bullets zipped through the aluminum walls and past their heads.
    Benjamin Oreskes, latimes.com, 8 Oct. 2017
  • She’s never struck me as one that would cower from someone.
    Christopher Keating, courant.com, 25 Jan. 2022
  • Would my clients, followers and potential clients all want to cower at home for the rest of their lives?
    Regan Hillyer, Forbes, 1 June 2022
  • Dogs with anxiety may try to hide or cower in response to the stressor.
    Dallas News, 23 Nov. 2022
  • The mothers trapped in Gaza have spent the past month and a half cowering in fear as Israeli airstrikes shake the earth and ground forces encircle the north of the enclave.
    Hajar Harb, Washington Post, 17 Nov. 2023
  • Earl had cowered and cried, cold-hated his grandfather for a full two days.
    Tiphanie Yanique, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2019
  • Most of the dead were killed cowering in basements when their homes collapsed upon them.
    Jerome Hansen, Jack Schermerhorn, Ralph Nelson and Ken McCormick, Detroit Free Press, 6 Apr. 2024
  • That leaves only Joel and Jessie to encounter the president, who is cowering on the floor as the Western Forces infiltrate his office.
    Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 13 Apr. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cower.' 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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