Meaning & use
cowed
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Frightened into quiet obedience, usually by threats or by someone more powerful.
Grammar: Used after be or before a noun: they were cowed, a cowed crowd.
Patterns
- be cowed by something
- look cowed
The students sat cowed and silent after the principal's angry speech.
He seemed cowed by his boss and rarely spoke in meetings.
A cowed population is unlikely to protest.
verbtransitive
Past form of cow: to make someone afraid and obedient through threats or force.
Grammar: The past tense and past participle of cow, which takes an object: the bully cowed him.
Patterns
- cow someone into doing something
- be cowed by someone
The guards cowed the prisoners into silence.
She refused to be cowed by their threats.
The harsh punishment cowed the whole class.
Common combinations
- cowed into silence
- The witnesses were cowed into silence by the gang.
- cowed by threats
- The shopkeeper would not be cowed by threats.
- look cowed
- The dog looked cowed after being scolded.
- cowed into submission
- The workers were cowed into submission by the new rules.
- a cowed expression
- He wore a cowed expression whenever his father came home.
Synonyms and how they differ
- intimidated
- Intimidated can describe a brief feeling of fear, whereas cowed suggests lasting, beaten-down obedience.
- subdued
- Subdued describes someone quiet or low in spirits for any reason, but cowed always points to fear of another party.
- browbeaten
- Browbeaten stresses the bullying that caused the submission, while cowed describes the resulting state.
- daunted
- Daunted means discouraged by a difficult task, and does not imply a person is forcing you to obey.
Opposites
Word family
- cow verb
- to frighten someone into obedience
- cowing adjective
- frightening or intimidating
- uncowed adjective
- not frightened or made submissive
Commonly confused: cowed or coward?
cowed vs coward
A coward is a person who lacks courage, while cowed describes someone made afraid by another.
Practice
Despite the threats, the journalist remained ___ and kept publishing.
Choose one answer.
Uncowed means not made afraid or obedient, which fits someone who keeps publishing despite threats. Cowed means the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cowed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.