cowardice

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈkaʊɚdɪs/ UK /ˈkaʊədɪs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a lack of bravery; shameful fear in the face of danger

Fleeing the wounded man was an act of pure cowardice.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a lack of bravery; shameful... timidity fearfulnessfaint-heartednesspusillanimityspinelessness

Opposites

courage bravery valor boldness heroism

Word family

Related forms coward cowardly

Etymology

From Old French 'coardise', from 'coard' ('coward'), from 'coe' ('tail'), from Latin 'cauda' ('tail'), perhaps from the image of an animal turning tail in fear.

coardise Old French cauda Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# cowardice

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈkaʊɚdɪs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkaʊədɪs/

## Meanings
1. a lack of bravery; shameful fear in the face of danger

## Examples
- Fleeing the wounded man was an act of pure cowardice.

## Synonyms
- timidity
- fearfulness
- faint-heartedness
- pusillanimity
- spinelessness

## Antonyms
- courage
- bravery
- valor
- boldness
- heroism

## Related Forms
- coward
- cowardly

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: coardise
- Root: cauda

## Etymology
From Old French 'coardise', from 'coard' ('coward'), from 'coe' ('tail'), from Latin 'cauda' ('tail'), perhaps from the image of an animal turning tail in fear.

## AI Etymology
Cowardice is from Old French 'coardise', from 'coard' ('coward'), from 'coe' ('tail'), from Latin 'cauda' ('tail'), perhaps from the image of an animal turning tail in fear. The ancestry passes through Old French coardise and Latin cauda. In present use as a noun, it means "a lack of bravery; shameful fear in the face of danger", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include coward and cowardly. Its contrast set includes courage, bravery, valor, and boldness, which clarifies the semantic boundary of the modern word.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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