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yellow

yellow

60 7.9
Not brave and easily frightened
  • adjective
  • /ˈjɛloʊ/
  • Offensive
translation icon : cobarde
  • Gaffney turned yellow and is hiding out.

Examples

  • I haven't heard anyone insult someone like that since Lars Svensson accused Erik the Red of being a coward and called him yellow.

  • You're a miserable, yellow coward, Mr. Shipman

  • Yellow like your cowardly selves.

  • When faced with a challenge, he often turns yellow and avoids confrontation.

  • She called him yellow when he refused to speak up for his friend.

  • Feeling yellow, he backed away from the spooky haunted house.

Synonyms

yellow-bellied
vsyellow
  • Offensive
5 7.9

Being too afraid to do things that need courage

is a general term for lacking courage and easily frightened
chicken
vsyellow
  • Offensive
5 7.2

Easily frightened and not willing to take risks

is the standard adjective meaning lacking courage or fearful
lily-livered
vsyellow
  • Offensive
3 9.9

Not brave and easily frightened

is a modern, neutral term rather than archaic wording
chickenhearted
vsyellow
  • Offensive
8.9

Being very easily frightened and not brave

is a broader label for showing fear rather than bravery
white-livered
vsyellow
  • Offensive
9.9

Very afraid and not willing to face danger

is the more general word without the extra intensity

Antonyms

906 1.0

Has courage when facing danger, pain or fear

117 3.4

Shows courage in dangerous or hard situations

Idioms

To start a journey into the unknown that brings adventure and personal change

Compounds

12 1.0

A very strong yellow color that is easy to see

yellow pages
  • Archaic
10 1.8

A book of local businesses and services printed on yellow paper

yellow fever
  • Specialized
9 3.7

A serious disease spread by mosquitoes that makes the skin turn yellow

6 1.8

A traffic signal that warns drivers to slow down and prepare to stop

yellow-bellied
  • Offensive
5 7.9

Being too afraid to do things that need courage

4 1.0

A light yellow colour that looks soft and not bright

4 2.1

A taxi painted yellow seen in cities like New York

4 7.2

A path toward a dream that has problems and surprises

3 2.5

A bright yellow like the outside of a lemon

yellow journalism
  • Literature
2 5.2

Reporting that exaggerates and uses shocking stories to attract readers while ignoring the truth

A bright yellow color like a canary's feathers

1 3.4

The second-longest river in northern China that flows east to the Yellow Sea and has yellow mud

1 2.7

A long yellow vegetable with soft skin that you cook and eat

1 3.6

A small aggressive wasp with yellow and black stripes that often builds nests in the ground

cadmium yellow
  • Specialized
1 8.3

A bright yellow pigment made from cadmium used in painting that is poisonous

A yellow color with a little green

1 5.1

A freshwater fish with a yellow body and dark stripes, caught for food and sport

yellow ocher
  • Specialized
1 6.7

A natural yellow pigment from earth used for painting

Having yellow spots on its surface

chrome yellow
  • Archaic
1 8.5

A bright yellow paint made from lead and used for painting

code yellow
  • Jargon
1 6.8

An alert warning people about a specific emergency, for example bad weather or a missing person

A pale yellow color like cream

A warm yellow color like gold

yellow bile
  • Archaic
1 9.9

An old medical idea that a fluid from the liver makes people angry

1 4.8

A tall plant with yellow iris flowers that grows in wet places

yellow journalist
  • Literature
1 7.7

A reporter who writes exaggerated or shocking stories to attract readers

1 3.5

A pine tree that has hard yellowish wood people use for building and furniture

A small woodpecker with a pale yellow belly that drills rows of holes in trees to eat sap and insects

1 2.0

A brownish yellow color like dry autumn leaves

With yellow lines on the surface, often on animals or objects

A color between yellow and orange, like a sunset

1 2.5

A pale white color with a little yellow

A yellow color with a little brown that looks warm and dull

A color between brown and yellow

cadmium yellow pale
  • Specialized
9.7

A pale yellow paint color used by artists

8.6

A sticky plant with hanging yellow flowers that grows in dry places in the southwestern United States

A bright light yellow color like a canary's feathers

A yellow color with a touch of red

A strong, intense yellow like a ripe pumpkin

A small wild flower that has soft hairy leaves and yellow petals with purple veins

alizarin yellow
  • Specialized
9.9

A yellow dye used in paints, fabrics, and chemistry

9.9

A North American wild flower with greenish-yellow pouch-shaped flowers and purple marks

A clover with yellow flowers that grows in Ireland and is often seen as the real shamrock

A large European plant with yellow flower clusters used in medicine

onion yellow dwarf
  • Specialized
7.4

A virus that makes onion plants small and their leaves turn yellow

6.2

A virus that makes onion plants grow poorly and their leaves turn yellow

A bright yellow color with a small touch of orange

potato yellow dwarf
  • Specialized
5.6

A disease of potato plants that makes leaves yellow and plants small

6.1

A germ that makes potato plants small and their leaves turn yellow

5.1

A bright pale yellow like a lemon or an egg yolk

tall yellow-eye
  • Australian
9.9

A tall Australian plant with yellow flowers that comes back each year

A large pine tree with short needles in groups of two or three and reddish brown bark when fully grown

A large pine tree from the southeastern United States with long needles and rough reddish bark used for timber

A tall pine tree from western North America with dark green needles

Wood from the western yellow pine tree used for building and furniture

A common wild flower with nodding yellow or red petals spotted with brown

A plant that lives many years with yellow flowers that smell nice and leafy stems

A plant that lives for many years with bright yellow flowers

A plant that grows in bogs and has spikes of yellow-orange flowers

yellow bass
  • Specialized
7.7

A small freshwater fish with yellowish colour that looks like a striped bass

yellow adder's tongue
  • Specialized
9.9

A small North American spring flower with one yellow spotted blossom

yellow ageratum
  • Specialized
8.8

A small shrub with yellow daisy-like flowers that grows in dry Mediterranean areas

A long thin vegetable with yellow pods that you eat

A common plant with small yellow flowers that lives many years

A common weed grass with yellow, rough, stiff seed heads

A common grass that grows as a weed in fields with bristly seed heads

9.9

A low-growing plant with yellow flowers that have red dots and smell faintly of pine

9.9

A sticky desert plant with hanging yellow flowers

A small fruit from buckthorn plants used to make yellow dye

6.1

A North American tree with thin shiny yellow or gray bark and strong wood

yellow bone marrow
  • Specialized
6.1

Tissue inside the hollow part of long bones in adults that stores fat

A small European bird whose male has bright yellow feathers

A common plant that lives for many years with small yellow flowers and sticky stems

How Brave

brave
906 1.0
yellow
  • Offensive
60 7.9
timid
1 3.5
fearful
143 1.3

Surface Forms

yellow positive

Etymology

Yellow meaning 'cowardly' is a later use and one popular idea is that it came from the sick look of 'jaundice', so 'yellow' began to suggest weakness or fear.