Cowardice

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Dictionary Meaning and Definition on 'Cowardice'

Cowardice Meaning and Definition from WordNet (r) 2.0
    cowardice n : the trait of lacking courage [syn: cowardliness] [ant: courage]
Cowardice Meaning and Definition from Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
    Cowardice \Cow"ard*ice\ (-[i^]s), n. [F. couardise, fr. couard. See Coward.] Want of courage to face danger; extreme timidity; pusillanimity; base fear of danger or hurt; lack of spirit. The cowardice of doing wrong. --Milton. Moderation was despised as cowardice. --Macaulay.
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Wikipedia Meaning and Definition on 'Cowardice'


Cowardice is the perceived failure to demonstrate sufficient robustness in the face of a challenge. The term describes a personality trait which is viewed as a negative characteristic and has been frowned upon (see norms) within most, if not all global cultures, while courage, typically viewed as its direct opposite, is generally rewarded and encouraged.

Cowards are usually seen to have avoided or refused to engage in a confrontation or struggle which has been deemed good or righteous by the wider culture in which they live. On a more mundane level, the label may be applied to those who are regarded as too frightened or overwhelmed to defend their rights or those of others from aggressors in their lives.

Acts of cowardice have long been punishable by military law, which defines a wide range of cowardly offenses including desertion in face of the enemy and surrendering to the enemy against orders. The punishment for such acts is typically severe, ranging from corporal punishment to the death sentence. Cowardly conduct is specifically mentioned within the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice.

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'Cowardice' in famous quotation sentence


* Don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark. - Samuel Johnson

* A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart. - Pietro Aretino

* It could be that our faithlessness is a cowering cowardice born of our very smallness, a massive failure of imagination... If we were to judge nature by common sense or likelihood, we wouldn't believe the world existed. - Annie Dillard


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Cowardice Sample Sentences in News


  • 'An act of complete cowardice': Ed Miliband blasts Woolwich solider attack
    Labour leader Ed Miliband described yesterday's murder of a soldier in Woolwich as “an act of complete cowardice”.         Read more on this news related to 'Cowardice'
  • Energy savings hopes dashed by EU leaders' ‘political cowardice’ (News)
    Progress on energy efficiency was blocked at an EU summit on Wednesday (22 May) by a cocktail of myopic business interests and timid leadership, according to Hans Nilsson, a board member of the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ECEEE). Read more on this news related to 'Cowardice'
  • Pollard’s send-off of Watson, an act of cowardice: Dravid
    Mumbai Indians all-rounder Kieron Pollard’s over-the-top celebration to send off Rajasthan Royals batsman Shane Watson in an IPL match here has invited strong criticism from visiting team’s skippe... Read more on this news related to 'Cowardice'

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