recreant
Also found in: Thesaurus, Legal, Wikipedia.
rec·re·ant
(rĕk′rē-ənt)adj.
1. Unfaithful or disloyal to a belief, duty, or cause: "Consider the man who stands by his duty and goes to the stake rather than be recreant to it" (Mark Twain).
2. Archaic Craven or cowardly.
n.
1. A faithless or disloyal person.
2. Archaic A coward.
[Middle English recreaunt, defeated, from Old French recreant, present participle of recroire, to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance, from Medieval Latin recrēdere, to yield, pledge : Latin re-, re- + Latin crēdere, to believe; see kerd- in Indo-European roots.]
rec′re·ance, rec′re·an·cy n.
rec′re·ant·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
recreant
(ˈrɛkrɪənt)adj
1. cowardly; faint-hearted
2. disloyal
n
a disloyal or cowardly person
[C14: from Old French, from recroire to surrender, from re- + Latin crēdere to believe; compare miscreant]
ˈrecreance, ˈrecreancy n
ˈrecreantly adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
rec•re•ant
(ˈrɛk ri ənt)adj.
1. cowardly.
2. unfaithful; disloyal.
n. 3. coward.
4. apostate.
[1300–50; < Old French, adj., n., present participle of recreire to yield in a contest =re- re- + creire < Latin crēdere to believe]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
Noun | 1. | recreant - an abject coward coward - a person who shows fear or timidity |
2. | recreant - a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc. quitter - a person who gives up too easily | |
Adj. | 1. | recreant - having deserted a cause or principle; "some provinces had proved recreant"; "renegade supporters of the usurper" disloyal - deserting your allegiance or duty to leader or cause or principle; "disloyal aides revealed his indiscretions to the papers" |
2. | recreant - lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful; "the craven fellow turned and ran"; "a craven proposal to raise the white flag"; "this recreant knight"- Spenser |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
recreant
adjectiveNot true to duty or obligation:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
recreant
(liter)Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007