cowardly
adjective
disapprovinguk/ˈkaʊ.əd.li/us/ˈkaʊ.ɚd.li/(of aperson) not at allbraveand tooeagertoavoiddanger,difficulty, orpain:
He was too cowardly to give theorder.
When theycriticizeusanonymouslythey comeacrossas cowardly.
These are not cowardlypeople, but they arecautious.
B2
(of anaction)showingthat someone is not at allbraveand is tooeagertoavoiddanger,difficulty, orpain:
This was aparticularlybrutaland cowardlyattack.这是一次特别残忍和懦弱的攻击。
They areguiltyof a cowardlyfailuretoaddresstheproblem.他们因懦弱而未能解决问题，为此感到内疚。
It was cowardly not to own up to themistake.
Synonyms
chickenchild's word
cravenformaldisapproving
fainthearted
lily-liveredliterary
pusillanimousformal
timid
weak-kneedinformaldisapproving
yellow(NOT BRAVE)informal
- Theythinkwe'reweakand cowardly.
- Was he toodecentto do it, orsimplytoo cowardly?
- Theytriedtocharacterizehim as a cowardlyshirkerofresponsibility.
- He said he was thevictimof a cowardlycampaignofcharacterassassination.
- Ithinkit was a cowardly way formanagementto go about things.
- Theirfailuretoasktoughquestionsandholdtheirleaderstoaccountis cowardly in theextreme.
Cowardly
- be afraid of your own shadowidiom
- bottle
- bottle out
- chicken
- chicken out
- cravenness
- fainthearted
- gutless
- lily-livered
- pusillanimity
- spinelessly
- spinelessness
- timid
- timidity
- timidly
- unadventurous
- weak-kneed
- wimp
- wimp out
- wimpy
cowardly
adverb
old useliterarydisapprovingin a way thatshowssomeone is not at allbraveand is tooeagertoavoiddanger,difficulty, orpain:
We will notretreatoractcowardly.
Cowardly
- be afraid of your own shadowidiom
- bottle
- bottle out
- chicken
- chicken out
- cravenness
- fainthearted
- gutless
- lily-livered
- pusillanimity
- spinelessly
- spinelessness
- timid
- timidity
- timidly
- unadventurous
- weak-kneed
- wimp
- wimp out
- wimpy