dastard
/'dæstəd/
Definition
Noun:
- A despicable coward: A person who is contemptibly cowardly, especially one who commits malicious or treacherous acts while avoiding personal risk or confrontation.
Adjective:
- Despicably cowardly: Characterized by or showing a shameful lack of courage, often in a treacherous or malicious manner.
Examples of Usage
Noun:
- The villain in the story was a dastard who would only attack from behind.
- He was branded a dastard for betraying his comrades to save himself.
Adjective:
- The general condemned the dastard act of poisoning the enemy's water supply.
- It was a dastard scheme, designed to ruin her reputation without any risk to the plotters.
Advanced Usage
- The term dastard is now somewhat archaic and literary. It carries a strong connotation of moral judgment and contempt, often implying that the cowardice is combined with malice or underhanded behavior. It is a more severe and specific insult than simply "coward."
- "dastardly": This is the much more common adjectival form.
- The pirates hatched a dastardly plot to kidnap the governor's daughter.
Variants and Related Words
- Dastardly (adj): Wickedly cowardly and treacherous.
- The spy was known for his dastardly deeds.
- Dastardliness (n): The quality of being dastardly.
Synonyms
- Coward (n): A person who lacks courage. (Less severe and judgmental than )
- Poltroon (n): An utter coward. (Similar in strength and archaism to )
- Craven (adj/n): Contemptibly lacking in courage.
- Recreant (n): A coward who deserts a cause. (Archaic)
Related Idioms and Phrases
- While there are no common idioms using the exact word dastard, the concept is captured in phrases like:
- To stab in the back: To betray someone treacherously.
- His dastardly behavior was the ultimate stab in the back.
- To have a yellow streak: To be cowardly.
- The dastard was said to have a yellow streak a mile wide.
Adjective
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despicably cowardly
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the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on...December 7th- F.D. Roosevelt
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Noun
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a despicable coward