poltroonery

P3O1L1T1R1O1O1N1E1R1Y4

noun

Cowardice; lack of spirit; pusillanimity.

Scrabble 16
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Meanings

nounpoltroonery (countable and uncountable, plural poltrooneries)

plural poltrooneries

  1. countableuncountableCowardice; lack of spirit; pusillanimity.

    “Your Majesty, your Majesty,” he said, “are you going to tolerate this mutiny, this poltroonery? This is a panic, this is a rout.”

    1952, C. S. Lewis, chapter 12, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Collins, published 1998
    1 more example

    Genius, Poet: do we know what these words mean? […] Nature’s own sacred voice heard once more athwart the dreary boundless element of hearsaying and canting, of twaddle and poltroonery, in which the bewildered Earth, nigh perishing, has lost its way.

    1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. IX, Abbot Samson”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk)

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
chicken-heartednesscowardicehen-heartednesspoltroonism

Origin

From poltroon + -ery.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

poltroonery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poltroonery

MLA

“poltroonery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poltroonery. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “poltroonery,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poltroonery.

Source: poltroonery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.