cravenly
1
8.4
- adverb
- /ˈkreɪvənli/
- Formal
:
cobardemente
- Is that understood?" The sea beast bowed and nodded cravenly.
Examples
-
Cravenly, we are content to let the young men destroy themselves.
Fiction book (1997) -
And then she'd looked around, found Joze staring as though he'd seen right through her to her very heart, still cravenly shaking with fear.
Fiction book (1992) -
He cravenly avoided addressing the issue when it was raised during the meeting.
-
She cravenly backed down from the challenge, fearing the consequences of failure.
-
The soldier cravenly retreated instead of standing his ground in the face of danger.
Synonyms
15
1.0
Behave in a quiet, nervous way around other people
7
3.2
Move or speak in a shy, nervous way because of low confidence
1
8.2
To act in a shy and scared way
In a cowardly way that shows no courage
Acting in a scared way and avoiding conflict
In a way that shows little courage or confidence
In a way that shows no courage and avoids standing up for oneself
To do something in a nervous or afraid way
In a weak, quiet way that shows little confidence
Antonyms
How Brave
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Cravenly comes from the old word craven, which once meant 'defeated', so imagine someone beaten down and too afraid to act. That's why cravenly is the opposite of brave and means acting in a 'cowardly' way.