craven

comparative more craven · superlative most craven

1. Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly.

   The poor craven bridegroom said never a word.

   1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “(please specify the introduction or canto number, or chapter name)”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC

   5 more examples

   Prime Minister Abe's fumbling and craven performance took place on a national holiday in Korea, marking the countrywide uprising against the Japanese colonial rule that began on March 1, 1919. March 1 is also the day in 1932 that Japan chose to inaugurate Manchukuo (after seizing northeastern China).

   2010, Bruce Cumings, The Korean War

   “But they’ve made some big carve-outs that are just absolute nonsense. There’s no perfect approach to content moderation, but they could at least try to look less transparently craven and incoherent.”

   2020 October 12, Andrew Marantz, quoting Dave Willner, “Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself”, in The New Yorker

   The PP has seized on the possibility of an amnesty to rally support and to portray the PSOE leader as craven, dependent on Catalan separatists and hellbent on remaining in office.

   2023 September 26, Sam Jones, “Spain elections: Feijóo launches doomed bid to lead country”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Now, I hold no candle for the train operators, and I think that in the main they have been far too craven about any government proposals. But in this instance, they have been badly traduced, led up the hill, and then chucked back down it.

   2023 November 15, Christian Wolmar, “Ministers should carry the can for ticket office fiasco”, in RAIL, number 996, page 47

   To abet Trump’s fake reality, the craven House Republicans refused to put up a plaque honoring the police officers and others who defended the Capitol that awful day.

   2025 May 31, Maureen Dowd, “Tech Bro Had to Go”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: backboneless, base, soft, bitch-ass, boneless, caitiff, candy-assed, chicken

plural cravens

1. archaicA coward.

   He is a craven and a villain else.

   1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]

   1 more example

   “God knows I would rather die licked in the fire by the side of my king than to live out my days twitted and scorned as a craven.”

   1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 45

   Synonyms: bottler, caitiff, candy-ass, candy-arse, coistril, coward, chicken, chicken liver

present singular third person cravens · participle present cravening · participle past cravened · past cravened

1. archaicTo make craven.

   There is a prohibition so divine / That cravens my weak hand.

   1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]

1. A surname.
2. A former local government district in North Yorkshire, England, merged in 2023 into the North Yorkshire unitary authority.
3. A village in the Rural Municipality of Longlaketon No. 219, Saskatchewan, Canada.
4. A locality in the MidCoast council area, eastern New South Wales, Australia.