milk-livered

adjective

ˈmilk-ˌli-vərd How to pronounce milk-livered (audio)
Definition of milk-liverednext
archaic
as in afraid
having or showing a shameful lack of courage vented his spleen at those milk-livered men who refused to fight for king and country

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for milk-livered
  1. afraid
  2. yellow
  3. scared
  4. frightened
  5. careful
  6. pusillanimous
  7. unheroic
  8. cowardly
Adjective
  • Inside the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, vital support staff are gone, international partnerships have been strained, and workers are afraid to discuss threats to democracy that they’re now prohibited from countering.
    — Eric Geller, WIRED, 13 Mar. 2025
  • But remember to keep your calendar flexible and don’t be afraid to pivot.
    — Sean McNally, Outdoor Life, 13 Mar. 2025
Definition of afraid
Adjective
  • The look features bright coral eyeshadow covering the eyelid, a fuchsia shade in the crease, and a swipe of fluorescent yellow eyeliner on the outside half of the eye and right under the brow.
    — Andrea Park, Teen Vogue, 20 July 2017
  • In addition to selling yellow mustard and hot sauce, the division makes ketchup, onion flavorings and other products.
    — Nick Turner, Bloomberg.com, 19 July 2017
Definition of yellow
Adjective
  • As the scream queen, there’s a role that Sam’s character can play, either angry at Paul, fighting back, or super scared.
    — Barry Levitt, Rolling Stone, 15 Mar. 2025
  • TikTok is eating our lunch, and executives are scared.
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2025
Definition of scared
Adjective
  • And this week, there’s a very nice sequence in which Matty walks a frightened Zoey, step-by-step, through what to expect when she gets arrested.
    — Noel Murray, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2025
  • Igor tries to subdue Ani, who's frightened and enraged, kicking and screaming at the prospect of being separated from her new husband.
    — Mandalit del Barco, NPR, 26 Feb. 2025
Definition of frightened
Adjective
  • These concerns underscore the need for careful consideration of privacy rights when deploying such technology.
    — Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report, Fox News, 15 Mar. 2025
  • Rendering animal fat requires careful heating and purification to remove impurities.
    — Boutayna Chokrane, WIRED, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of careful
Adjective
  • There was no fanfare — indeed no announcement or change in Oscar rules — but a firestorm of controversy resulted, followed by the Academy’s cowardly, pusillanimous silence on the issue.
    — Armond White, National Review, 5 Mar. 2025
  • Mark Kelly Americans who are rightfully appalled by the pusillanimous response to anti-Semitism on college campuses have been pulling their donations and calling for restrictions on anti-Israel student groups.
    — Arthur Levitt, WSJ, 12 Nov. 2023
Definition of pusillanimous
Adjective
  • That larger significance is remarkably unheroic and fatalistic.
    — Gabriel Winslow-Yost, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024
  • In the world of The Boys, based on the gleefully scabrous 2000s indie comic-book series of the same name by writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, superheroes are real, pop-culture-dominating, and with rare exceptions, entirely unheroic.
    — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 13 June 2024
Definition of unheroic
Adjective
  • Two beloved members of the Tijuana journalism community were killed in two separate cowardly attacks.
    — Tania Navarro, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Playing Switzerland is a dangerous game for a Housewife — never choosing a side is seen as a cowardly position that quickly wears thin.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2025
Definition of cowardly
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Milk-livered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/milk-livered. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.

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