Meanings
plural cowardices · alternative obsolete cowardize · alternative obsolete cowardise
- countableuncountableLack of courage.
Jem’s head at times was transparent: he had thought that up to make me understand he wasn’t afraid of Radleys in any shape or form, to contrast his own fearless heroism with my cowardice.
1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC2 more examples
The ſecond property of your excellent ſherris, is the vvarming of the blood, vvhich before (cold & ſetled) left the lyuer vvhite & pale, vvhich is the badge of puſilanimitie and covvardize: but the ſherris vvarmes it, and makes it courſe from the invvards to the partes extreames, […]
c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii][Ilhan] Omar was left twisting in the wind earlier this year after facing spurious charges of antisemitism, a display of Democratic cowardice co-signed by Chelsea Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and most every other Democrat with a congressional leadership position.
2019 July 19, Noah Kulwin, “Democrats Fail the Left, Once Again”, in Jewish Currents, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2023Synonyms: cowardliness, cowardness, cowardship, fearfulness, pusillanimity, cowardliness, poltroonery, chicken-heartedness · Antonyms: courage, temerity
Synonyms & antonyms
nounLack of courage.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Anglo-Normancuardise
- Middle Englishcowardise
- Englishcowardice
From Middle English cowardise, borrowed from Anglo-Norman cuardise (modern French couardise).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek δειλίᾱ, ἀνανδρίᾱ
- δειλίᾱ (deilíā)the lack of courage
- ἀνανδρίᾱ (anandríā)the lack of courage
Arabic جَبَانَة
- جَبَانَة (jabāna)the lack of courage
Bulgarian страхли́вост, малоду́шие
- страхли́вост (strahlívost)the lack of courage
- малоду́шие (malodúšie)the lack of courage
Catalan covardia
- covardiathe lack of courage
Chinese Mandarin 膽怯 /胆怯, 怯懦
- 膽怯 /胆怯 (dǎnqiè)the lack of courage
- 怯懦 (qiènuò)the lack of courage
Czech zbabělost
- zbabělostthe lack of courage
Danish fejhed
- fejhedthe lack of courage
Dutch lafheid
- lafheidthe lack of courage
Esperanto malkuraĝeco
- malkuraĝecothe lack of courage
Estonian argus
- argusthe lack of courage
Finnish pelkuruus
- pelkuruusthe lack of courage
French lâcheté, couardise
- lâchetéthe lack of courage
- couardisethe lack of courage
German Feigheit, Kleinmut
- Feigheitthe lack of courage
- Kleinmutthe lack of courage
- Ängstlichkeitthe lack of courage
Greek δειλία, ανανδρία
- δειλία (deilía)the lack of courage
- ανανδρία (anandría)the lack of courage
Hebrew פַּחְדָנוּת
- פַּחְדָנוּת (pakhdanút)the lack of courage
Hindi कायरता, बुज़दिली
- कायरता (kāyartā)the lack of courage
- बुज़दिली (buzdilī)the lack of courage
Hungarian gyávaság
- gyávaságthe lack of courage
Icelandic gunguskapur, heigulsháttur
- gunguskapurthe lack of courage
- heigulshátturthe lack of courage
- ragmennskathe lack of courage
- bleyðithe lack of courage
Indonesian kepengecutan
- kepengecutanthe lack of courage
Italian codardia, viltà
- codardiathe lack of courage
- viltàthe lack of courage
- pusillanimitàthe lack of courage
- vigliaccheriathe lack of courage
Japanese 憶病, 卑怯
- 憶病 (okubyō)the lack of courage
- 卑怯 (hikyō)the lack of courage
Korean 비겁
- 비겁 (bigeop)the lack of courage
Latin īgnāvia
- īgnāviathe lack of courage
Latvian gļēvulība
- gļēvulībathe lack of courage
Lithuanian bailumas
- bailumasthe lack of courage
Norwegian Bokmål feighet
- feighetthe lack of courage
Persian بزدلی
- بزدلی (bozdeli)the lack of courage
Polish tchórzostwo, tchórzliwość
- tchórzostwothe lack of courage
- tchórzliwośćthe lack of courage
- bojaźliwośćthe lack of courage
Portuguese covardia
- covardiathe lack of courage
Romanian poltronerie, lașitate
- poltroneriethe lack of courage
- lașitatethe lack of courage
Russian тру́сость, трусли́вость
- тру́сость (trúsostʹ)the lack of courage
- трусли́вость (truslívostʹ)the lack of courage
- малоду́шие (malodúšije)the lack of courage
- боязли́вость (bojazlívostʹ)the lack of courage
- бзде́ние (bzdénije)the lack of courage
Scottish Gaelic cladhaireachd
- cladhaireachdthe lack of courage
Slovak zbabelosť
- zbabelosťthe lack of courage
Spanish cobardía
- cobardíathe lack of courage
Swedish feghet
- feghetthe lack of courage
Tagalog kaduwagan, karuwagan
- kaduwaganthe lack of courage
- karuwaganthe lack of courage
Thai ความขี้ขลาด
- ความขี้ขลาด (kwaam-kîi-klàat)the lack of courage
Turkish korkaklık
- korkaklıkthe lack of courage
Ukrainian боягу́зтво, малоду́шність
- боягу́зтво (bojahúztvo)the lack of courage
- малоду́шність (malodúšnistʹ)the lack of courage
Urdu بُزْدِلی, نامردی
- بُزْدِلی (buzdilī)the lack of courage
- نامردی (nāmardī)the lack of courage
Vietnamese tính nhút nhát
- tính nhút nhátthe lack of courage
Cite this entry
cowardice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cowardice
“cowardice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cowardice. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cowardice,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cowardice.
Source: cowardice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.