Coward Meaning
/ˈkaʊəd/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA person who lacks courage.
adjCowardly.
Sentence Examples
"To tell you the truth, I am scared of heights." "You are a coward!"
You are not a coward.
We looked down on him as a coward.
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CEFR Practice Quiz
He was called a ____ for fleeing the battlefield before the enemy arrived.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Cowards dye many times before their deaths, / The valiant neuer taſte of death but once: […]"
— c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene ii, page 117, column 1:
"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."
— 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
"Invading Fears repel my Coward Joy;
And Ills foreseen the pleasant Bliss destroy."
— 1709, Matthew Prior, “Celia to Damon”, in Poems on Several Occasions, 2nd edition, London: Jacob Tonson, page 89:
"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, […]"
— 1820, John Chalkhill, Thealma and Clearchus:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
He was called a ____ for fleeing the battlefield before the enemy arrived.