craven

adj

1. Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly.

   “The poor craven bridegroom said never a word.”

   “Prime Minister Abe's fumbling and craven performance took place on a national holiday in Korea, marking the countrywide uprising against the Japanese colonial rule that began on March 1, 1919. March 1 is also the day in 1932 that Japan chose to inaugurate Manchukuo (after seizing northeastern China).”

   ““But they’ve made some big carve-outs that are just absolute nonsense. There’s no perfect approach to content moderation, but they could at least try to look less transparently craven and incoherent.””

   “The PP has seized on the possibility of an amnesty to rally support and to portray the PSOE leader as craven, dependent on Catalan separatists and hellbent on remaining in office.”

   “Now, I hold no candle for the train operators, and I think that in the main they have been far too craven about any government proposals. But in this instance, they have been badly traduced, led up the hill, and then chucked back down it.”

noun

1. (archaic)A coward.

   “He is a craven and a villain else.”

   ““God knows I would rather die licked in the fire by the side of my king than to live out my days twitted and scorned as a craven.””

verb

1. (archaic)To make craven.

   “There is a prohibition so divine / That cravens my weak hand.”

name

1. A surname.
2. A former local government district in North Yorkshire, England, merged in 2023 into the North Yorkshire unitary authority.
3. A village in the Rural Municipality of Longlaketon No. 219, Saskatchewan, Canada.
4. A locality in the MidCoast council area, eastern New South Wales, Australia.