craven

adj.

Characterized by abject fear; cowardly.

n.

A coward.

[Middle English cravant, perhaps from Old French crevant, present participle of crever, to burst, from Latin crepāre, to break.]

cravenly cra'ven·ly adv.
cravenness cra'ven·ness n.

New York Times columnist Frank Rich takes a swipe at Senator Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) by calling him craven, which means cowardly (but in this context means "too afraid of political fallout to maintain a principled stand"):

"That the administration's stem-cell policy is a political fiasco for its proponents is evident from a single fact: Bill Frist, the most craven politician in Washington, ditched the president.... If Frist is belatedly standing up for stem-cell research, you can bet he's read some eye-popping polls."

By the way, in a good example of "you can't judge a person by his name," director Wes Craven is known for his scary films, which presumably don't frighten him.

Link: The Passion of the Embryos | INS News

Posted July 25, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

adjective

Ignobly lacking in courage: chickenhearted, cowardly, dastardly, faint-hearted, lily-livered, pusillanimous, unmanly. Slang chicken, gutless, yellow, yellow-bellied. See fear/courage.

noun

An ignoble, uncourageous person: coward, dastard, funk, poltroon. Slang chicken, yellow-belly. See fear/courage.

adj

Definition: weak, timid
Antonyms: bold, brave, courageous, heroic, strong

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IN BRIEF: Cowardly.

It was a craven act to run away from the wreck without helping the people out of the car.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - fej
n. - kryster

Nederlands (Dutch)
laf(aard)

Français (French)
adj. - lâche
n. - lâche (sout)

Deutsch (German)
adj. - feige
n. - Feigling

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - δειλός, λιπόψυχος
n. - άνανδρος, δειλός

Italiano (Italian)
pusillanime

Português (Portuguese)
adj., -
n. - covarde

Русский (Russian)
перепуганный, трус

Español (Spanish)
adj. - acobardado
n. - cobarde, timorato

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - feg
n. - feg stackare

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
怯懦的, 胆小的, 畏缩的, 懦夫, 胆小鬼, 怯懦者

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 怯懦的, 膽小的, 畏縮的
n. - 懦夫, 膽小鬼, 怯懦者

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 겁 많은, 비겁한
n. - 겁쟁이, 비겁자

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 臆病な, 卑怯な, 気の小さい
n. - 臆病者

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) جبان, رعديد (الاسم) جبان‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮שפל, פחדני‬
n. - ‮שפל, פחדן‬

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