recreant

adj.

1. Unfaithful or disloyal to a belief, duty, or cause.
2. Craven or cowardly.

n.

1. A faithless or disloyal person.
2. A coward.

[Middle English recreaunt, defeated, from Old French recreant, present participle of recroire, to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance, from Medieval Latin recrēdere, to yield, pledge : Latin re-, re- + Latin crēdere, to believe.]

recreance rec're·ance or rec're·an·cy n.
recreantly rec're·ant·ly adv.

(REK-ree-uhnt)

adjective
1. Unfaithful or disloyal to a belief, duty, or cause.
2. Craven or cowardly.

noun
1. A faithless or disloyal person.
2. A coward.

Etymology
Middle English, from Old French, present participle of recroire, to remember, from Medieval Latin recredere, to yield, pledge : Latin re-, re- + Latin credere, to believe.

Usage
"Tyler, seeking a less imperial president and a stronger states' rights policy, joined a small group of Jacksonians who deserted the fold and eventually became known as southern states' rights Whigs. In 1836, the Jacksonian-controlled Virginia legislature demanded and secured the recreant's senatorial resignation." — Tyler, John, The Reader's Companion to American History, 1 Jan 1991.

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adjective

Not true to duty or obligation: disloyal, faithless, false, false-hearted, perfidious, traitorous, treacherous, unfaithful, untrue. See continue/stop/pause, trust/distrust.

noun

A person who has defected: apostate, defector, deserter, renegade, runagate, tergiversator, turncoat. Informal rat. See approach/retreat.

coward; apostate, deserter

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

Nederlands (Dutch)
laf(aard), afvallig(e)

Français (French)
adj. - traître, déloyal
n. - traître, lâche

Deutsch (German)
n. - Feigling, Verräter, Abtrünniger
adj. - verräterisch, feige

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (λόγ.) δειλός, αποστάτης
adj. - (λόγ.) φοβητσιάρικος

Italiano (Italian)
vile, rinnegato

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

Русский (Russian)
отступник, трус, предатель, отступнический, трусливый

Español (Spanish)
adj. - cobarde, traidor
n. - cobarde, traidor

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - förrädare, pultron
adj. - feg, trolös

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
胆小的, 不义的, 怯懦的, 胆怯者, 叛徒, 不义的人

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 膽小的, 不義的, 怯懦的
n. - 膽怯者, 叛徒, 不義的人

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

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 臆病な, 卑怯な, 変節した, おく病な
n. - 臆病者, 裏切者, 裏切り者, 卑怯者

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) خائن (صفه) جبان‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮פחדן, בוגד‬
n. - ‮פחדן, בוגד‬

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