craven
contemptibly cowardly and lacking courage
Word origin: From Old French cravante, overthrown or defeated.
Craven in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing craven in a sentence.
His craven retreat left his companions to face the danger alone.
Critics denounced the senator's craven silence in the face of an obvious injustice.
Using “craven” well
Craven is a strongly contemptuous word for cowardice, harsher than timid. It pairs with pusillanimous and fainthearted and implies moral failure, not mere nervousness.
More GRE words starting with C
a small secret group plotting against a government or authority
having a hidden or mysterious meaning understood only by initiates
a harsh, jarring mixture of sounds
to obtain something by begging or sponging off others
falling off or shed at an early stage, especially of plant parts
to coax someone into doing something through flattery or persuasion
an event causing great damage, loss, or distress
misty, dim, or dark, and therefore obscure
Questions about “craven”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.