Meanings
present singular third person chickens out · participle present chickening out · participle past chickened out · past chickened out
- idiomaticTo shy away from a daring task; to decline, refuse, or avoid something due to fear or uncertainty.
We almost convinced his dad to ride the roller coaster, but he chickened out when he saw how high it went.
1 more example
I dismiss Reporters Without Borders. Completely nonsensical. We invited them in for a select committee hearing, and in the true heritage of free speech, they chickened out.
2022 June 29, K Shanmugam, “Hard Talk: K. Shanmugam: Will Singapore have to choose between the US and China?”, in BBCSynonyms: bottle out, wuss out, wimp out, bottle it
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo shy away from a daring task; to decline, refuse, or avoid something due to fear or uncertainty.
More synonyms by meaning
verbremove oneself from an obligation
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Basque kikildu
- kikildushy away from a daring task
Dutch terugdeinzen
- terugdeinzenshy away from a daring task
Finnish jänistää
- jänistääshy away from a daring task
French se dégonfler, lâcher
- se dégonflershy away from a daring task
- lâchershy away from a daring task
- laisser tombershy away from a daring task
- lâcher l'affaireshy away from a daring task
German kneifen, Schiss kriegen
- kneifenshy away from a daring task
- Schiss kriegenshy away from a daring task
- davor zurückschreckenshy away from a daring task
Italian tirarsi indietro
- tirarsi indietroshy away from a daring task
Persian جا زدن
- جا زدن (jâ zadan)shy away from a daring task
Polish tchórzyć, stchórzyć
- tchórzyćshy away from a daring task
- stchórzyćshy away from a daring task
Portuguese amarelar, acovardar-se
- amarelarshy away from a daring task
- acovardar-seshy away from a daring task
Russian испуга́ться, стру́сить
- испуга́ться (ispugátʹsja)shy away from a daring task
- стру́сить (strúsitʹ)shy away from a daring task
- засса́ть (zassátʹ)shy away from a daring task
- забзде́ть (zabzdétʹ)shy away from a daring task
- усса́ться (ussátʹsja)shy away from a daring task
- обосса́ться (obossátʹsja)shy away from a daring task
- усра́ться (usrátʹsja)shy away from a daring task
- обосра́ться (obosrátʹsja)shy away from a daring task
Spanish apencarse, apendejarse
- apencarseshy away from a daring task
- apendejarseshy away from a daring task
- ciscarseshy away from a daring task
- rajarseshy away from a daring task
- apajuilarseshy away from a daring task
- papelonearseshy away from a daring task
- achumicarseshy away from a daring task
- apulismarseshy away from a daring task
- aculillarseshy away from a daring task
- achicopalarseshy away from a daring task
- arratonarseshy away from a daring task
- jiñarseshy away from a daring task
Swedish fega ur
- fega urshy away from a daring task
Thai ป๊อด
- ป๊อด (bpɔ́ɔt)shy away from a daring task
Ukrainian злякатися
- злякатися (zljakatysja)shy away from a daring task
Cite this entry
chicken out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chicken%20out
“chicken out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chicken%20out. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chicken out,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chicken%20out.
Source: chicken out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.