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# cowardly

adjective (cowardly, more cowardly, most cowardly)

«cowardly» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Cowardly means not brave, too afraid to face danger, pain or something difficult. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#m1)
2. A cowardly act is mean and unfair because the person avoids risk, such as attacking someone weaker or hiding behind others. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#m2)

### In the lessons

In stories it is a strong criticism of a character; the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz is a famous example. In lessons about fights and fear, pupils learn that walking away from a fight is not cowardly, while bullying someone smaller is. Phrases: «a cowardly act», «a cowardly attack», «a cowardly lion».

### Examples

- The Cowardly Lion wanted to be brave. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#x1)
- Picking on a younger child is cowardly. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#x2)
- It was cowardly of him to blame his little brother. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#x3)
- Sam thought refusing to fight was cowardly, but his dad said it was wise. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#x4)
- The newspaper called the attack cowardly. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#x5)
- Sending nasty messages without a name is cowardly. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#x6)
- “They are the Kalidahs!” said the Cowardly Lion, beginning to tremble. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#x7)

### Note

It looks like an adverb (ends in -ly) but it is an adjective: «a cowardly boy». From «coward» + -ly. Noun: cowardice. Opposite: brave, courageous. Trap: feeling scared is not cowardly; everyone feels fear. Courage is doing the right thing anyway.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «cowardly» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«cowardly» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/cowardly.html) on Mova free.