chickenhearted

Thân thiện

The new recruit felt chickenhearted during his first night watch.

Definition

Adjective: * Easily frightened; lacking courage; timid: Describes a person who is quick to feel fear and is unwilling to face danger, difficulty, or unpleasant situations. It implies a lack of bravery or resolve.

Usage

The word "chickenhearted" is a descriptive adjective. It is often used in informal or critical contexts to label someone's character or a specific action as cowardly. It can be considered mildly insulting.

Examples

• The chickenhearted knight refused to enter the dark forest.
• Don't be so chickenhearted; it's just a little spider.
• His chickenhearted response to the challenge disappointed his team.

Advanced Usage

• The term is a compound word formed from "chicken" (an animal often associated with fear) and "hearted" (referring to one's nature or spirit). Similar constructions include "lionhearted" (brave) and "fainthearted" (timid).
• It can be used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like "is" or "seems").

Variants and Related Words

• Chicken-livered (adj.): An even more informal and synonymous term for cowardly.
• Chicken out (phrasal verb): To decide not to do something because of fear.
  • He was going to bungee jump, but he chickened out at the last moment.

Synonyms

• Cowardly
• Timid
• Fainthearted
• Timorous
• Pusillanimous (formal)

Antonyms

• Brave
• Courageous
• Bold
• Fearless
• Lionhearted

Idioms and Related Phrases

• To have a yellow streak: To be cowardly. (This idiom shares the critical connotation of "chickenhearted").
• To get cold feet: To suddenly become too frightened to do something you had planned to do. (This describes an action rather than a permanent character trait).

Học thuật

Adjective

1. easily frightened

Từ đồng nghĩa

• chicken
• lily-livered
• white-livered
• yellow
• yellow-bellied