cowardice
/ˈkaʊədɪs
/noun [mass noun]
1Lack of bravery: my cowardice got the better of me and I crept out of the room his 11th-hour decision not to hold an election led to accusations of cowardice...
- Is it cowardice, the lack of moral backbone to tell the truth whatever the cost?
- We have to make a definite move to cross over the boundary from cowardice to bravery.
- He thought about ritual suicide and how it had changed from a demonstration of bravery to one of cowardice.
Synonyms
faint-heartedness, spiritlessness, spinelessness, timidity, timorousness, fearfulness, pusillanimity, weakness, feebleness
informal gutlessness, wimpishness, wimpiness, sissiness
British informal wetness
archaic poltroonery, recreancy
rare cravenness
2 [count noun] rare A group of mongrels or feral dogs.What deity draws his bow for such a cowardice of curs as run your streets?
Origin
Middle English: from Old French couardise, from couard (see coward).