pusillanimous
adjective
Did you know?
Do you know someone who has a small, weak spirit, someone whose reserve of inner strength is too small to draw from in times of danger and adversity? If so, you'll find pusillanimous to be the perfect descriptor for that person. The Latin roots of this derisive adjective are pusillus, meaning "very small" (and related to pusus, meaning "boy") and animus, which means "spirit" and is the ancestor to many words in our language, including "animal" and "animate." Pusillanimous first appeared in English in the 16th century, but it gained prominence in the 1970s when Vice President Spiro Agnew famously accused his ideological rivals of "pusillanimous pussyfooting." And despite what you may have heard, pusillanimous does not serve as the basis for pussyfoot, pussycat, or a certain related vulgarism.
Synonyms
- chicken
- chicken-livered
- chickenhearted
- cowardly
- craven
- dastardly
- gutless
- lily-livered
- milk-livered [archaic]
- poltroon
- recreant
- spineless
- unheroic
- yellow
Example Sentences
Steve Forbes, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022 His pusillanimous and fraudulent conduct must be stopped. Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 8 July 2022 Where the president should be direct and full-throated, Biden has been, at best, indirect and pusillanimous. The Editors, National Review, 12 May 2022 Rifkin’s story should rage against the pusillanimous like Roth and the hero of Look Back in Anger. Armond White, National Review, 4 Feb. 2022 The English were led by the exemplary Admiral Edward Vernon — after whom the Washington family home, Mount Vernon, would be named — and the incompetent, pusillanimous General Thomas Wentworth. Washington Post, 10 Nov. 2021 Goldwater’s presidential run gave voice to those who yearned for a real conservative, rejecting Dwight Eisenhower as a pusillanimous moderate. Patrick Iber, The New Republic, 11 Aug. 2020 American politicians, the pusillanimous and the mountebanks and even their opposites, used to be as highfalutin as Foghorn Leghorn with their gibes, which made politics fun for fans of Shakespeare, the Bible or obscure history. oregonlive, 31 Mar. 2020 The pusillanimous, corporate-speak testimony of several corporate executives is quoted at length — perhaps at too great a length. Douglas Preston, New York Times, 1 May 2018 See More Word History
Late Latin pusillanimis, from Latin pusillus very small (diminutive of pusus boy) + animus spirit; perhaps akin to Latin puer child — more at puerile, animate
15th century, in the meaning defined above
pusillanimous
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- craven
- cowardly
- gutless
- spineless
- frightened
- afraid
- poltroon
- scared
- lily-livered
- timid
- unheroic
- yellow
- dastardly
- careful
- chickenhearted
- fearful
- recreant
- timorous
- cautious
- weak
- chicken
- diffident
- feeble
- chicken-livered
- milk-livered
- fainthearted
- bashful
- wary
- coy
- unmanly
- shy
- soft
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- brave
- courageous
- heroic
- intrepid
- brazen
- daring
- valiant
- hardy
- gallant
- dauntless
- valorous
- fearless
- gutsy
- stalwart
- audacious
- stout
- bold
- lionhearted
- cheeky
- heroical
- stouthearted
- nervy
- spirited
- doughty
- plucky
- resolute
- spunky
- greathearted
- determined
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of pusillanimous are cowardly, craven, and dastardly. While all these words mean "having or showing a lack of courage," pusillanimous suggests a contemptible lack of courage.
In some situations, the words cowardly and pusillanimous are roughly equivalent. However, cowardly implies a weak or ignoble lack of courage.
While the synonyms craven and pusillanimous are close in meaning, craven suggests extreme defeatism and complete lack of resistance.
The words dastardly and pusillanimous can be used in similar contexts, but dastardly often implies behavior that is both cowardly and treacherous or skulking or outrageous.