Meaning & use
coward
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Meaning
nouncountabledisapproving
Someone who is too afraid to face danger, pain, or difficulty, and who often runs away or lets others deal with it.
Grammar: Usually an insult and often used in the phrase call someone a coward.
Patterns
- call someone a coward
- act like a coward
He called me a coward for refusing to speak in front of the class.
Only a coward would leave a friend behind.
She felt like a coward for staying silent.
Word forms
| plural | cowards |
|---|
Common combinations
- call someone a coward
- Don't call him a coward just because he was scared.
- act like a coward
- He acted like a coward when the fight broke out.
- moral coward
- A moral coward avoids saying what is right.
- complete coward
- I'm a complete coward when it comes to spiders.
- branded a coward
- The deserter was branded a coward.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wimp
- Wimp is informal and sounds more mocking than serious, and is used for weak or timid people.
- chicken
- Chicken is a childish slang word, used to tease someone for not daring to do something.
- craven
- Craven is a literary adjective, and noun, suggesting total, shameful lack of courage.
- scaredy-cat
- Scaredy-cat is a playful word mostly used by or for children.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: coward or coward vs cowered?
coward vs coward vs cowered
Cowered is the past of cower, meaning to crouch in fear, and sounds similar to coward but is a verb.
Practice
He refused to testify because he was afraid. His critics called him a ______.
Choose one answer.
A coward lacks the courage to face a difficult situation. A skeptic doubts claims, which would not match his fear.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “coward”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.