Coward
adj, name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A person who lacks courage.
"Near-synonyms: big baby, baby"
- 2 a person who shows fear or timidity wordnet
- 1 To intimidate. obsolete, transitive
"The first he coped with was their captain, whom / His sword sent headless to seek out a tomb. / This cowarded the valour of the rest, […]"
- 1 Cowardly.
"It is a coward and servile humour, for a man to disguise and hide himselfe under a maske, and not dare to shew himselfe as he is."
- 2 Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.
- 1 A surname originating as an occupation.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples""To tell you the truth, I am scared of heights." "You are a coward!""
Etymology
From Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coue (“tail”), coe + -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix); coue, coe is in turn from Latin cauda. The reference seems to be to an animal "turning tail", or having its tail between its legs, especially a dog. Compare the expression tail between one's legs. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh). Unrelated to cower, which is of Germanic origin.
From Old English cūhierde (“cowherd”). Doublet of Cowherd and cowherd.
Related phrases
More for "coward"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.