craven

CEFRC1

/ˈkɹeɪ.vən/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Showing a lack of courage; very cowardly.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    A coward.

Examples

  • I never knew Tom was such a craven bootlicker.

  • The president is too craven to tackle this problem.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. To make craven.

  2. Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly.

More examples

In context

  • The poor craven bridegroom said never a word.

  • He is a craven and a villain else.

  • There is a prohibition so divine / That cravens my weak hand.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The knight called his opponent blank for fleeing the battlefield without fighting.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English cravant, either borrowed from Old French cravanté (“defeated”), past participle of cravanter (ultimately from Latin crepare), or a modification of creaunt (“defeated”) after craven (“to crave”).