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# cowardly

«cowardly» in Mova's school dictionary: **not brave, too afraid to face danger, pain or something…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (cowardly, more cowardly, most cowardly)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Cowardly means not brave, too afraid to face danger, pain or something difficult. [tree →](https://md.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://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/#m2)

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

### In the corpora

- [Blaming a pet or a baby who cannot answer back is a cowardly lie and often fails.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/428-the-broken-window-and-other-hidden-accidents/30/)
- [Letting someone else take your blame is cowardly, and buying it with a promise you break is a second lie.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/432-it-was-him-siblings-blaming-each-other/35/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «cowardly» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cowardly/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.