as in cowardly
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
a military commander who was so poltroon that he surrendered without having fired so much as a single shot
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in coward
a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger
those poltroons in the state legislature who have caved in to bigotry on this important issue of basic civil rights
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of poltroon
Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 15 Jan. 2021
Noun
And there’s the awkward fact of Giuliani’s having failed, in spite of his most abject scheming, to manage to overturn the presidential election that Donald Trump lost to a wobbly poltroon on the edge of 80.
—Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 15 Jan. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poltroon
Adjective
-
Denying students access to our complete history is fundamentally cowardly.—
Britt Hogue,
Baltimore Sun,
26 Feb. 2025
-
Two beloved members of the Tijuana journalism community were killed in two separate cowardly attacks.—
Tania Navarro,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
This is a cop novel that fully satisfies its genre expectations — chases, gun battles, sinister bad guys, questionable cops, cowards and heroes.—
Claude Peck,
Boston Herald,
16 Mar. 2025
-
If Republicans refuse to do that, then their constituents can rest assured that their representatives are cowards and liars.—
Letters to the Editor,
Orlando Sentinel,
13 Mar. 2025
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
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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
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
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But remember to keep your calendar flexible and don’t be afraid to pivot.—
Sean McNally,
Outdoor Life,
13 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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In any event Marshall, a craven idiot, is a raucous, vulgar sendup of the bedrock American principle of Manifest Destiny.—
Tom Gliatto,
People.com,
7 Mar. 2025
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Actors as skillful as Ruffalo and Toni Collette, the craven leader Marshall’s imperious wife, come off pretty pushy here.—
Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Musk and Trump must be stopped before more Americans are killed, and only those spineless Republicans in Congress can stop them.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
4 Mar. 2025
-
His spineless vice president and defense secretary then echoed Trump’s garbage.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
31 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Inside, the staff scrambles for cover and a frightened woman and child are seen hiding behind a buffet counter.—
Mark Price,
Miami Herald,
11 Mar. 2025
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Staying apolitical in his work, Lynch expressed the personal idiosyncrasy that reflected his upbringing in Midwest America (born in Missoula, Mont., and of Finnish-Danish heritage) as well as his private, frightened knowledge of national terror.—
Armond White,
National Review,
17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Poltroon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poltroon. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
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