| CARVIEW |
Select Language
HTTP/2 200
date: Thu, 09 Oct 2025 04:07:24 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
content-security-policy-report-only: default-src 'self';img-src 'self' data: https://flickr.com https://*.flickr.com https://s.gravatar.com https://s.gravatar.com/avatar https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar https://i1.wp.com/cdn.auth0.com/avatars https://cdn.auth0.com/avatars https://g.stripe.com/ https://ssl.google-analytics.com https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/ https://farm66.static.flickr.com https://www.google-analytics.com https://tpc.googlesyndication.com https://pbs.twimg.com https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net https://*.amazon-adsystem.com https://fundingchoicesmessages.google.com https://*.3lift.com https://ams-pageview-public.s3.amazonaws.com https://www.google.com https://syndication.twitter.com https://image8.pubmatic.com https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net https://*.googleusercontent.com;base-uri 'self';font-src 'self' https: data:;frame-ancestors 'self';frame-src https://js.stripe.com https://platform.twitter.com/ https://syndication.twitter.com/ https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/ https://*.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/ https://www.google.com/ https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/;connect-src 'self' https: https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ppub_config https://bam.nr-data.net/events/1/cb925c8058;object-src none;script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' report-sample https://js.stripe.com/v3/ https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.min.js https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.slim.min.js https://code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-1.4.1.min.js https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/popper.js@1.16.0/dist/umd/popper.min.js https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/js/bootstrap.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/validate.js/0.13.1/validate.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/underscore.js/1.8.3/underscore-min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/list.js/1.5.0/list.min.js https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js https://www.googletagmanager.com/ https://ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js https://js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-spa-1184.min.js https://fundingchoicesmessages.google.com https://bam.nr-data.net https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net https://www.googletagservices.com https://adservice.google.com https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tether/1.4.0/js/tether.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.12.9/umd/popper.min.js https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/clipboard@2.0.8/dist/clipboard.min.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/howler/2.1.1/howler.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/validator/10.9.0/validator.min.js https://*.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/ https://*.googlesyndication.com/ https://platform.twitter.com/js/ https://cdn.ampproject.org https://www.google-analytics.com https://adservice.google.be https://adservice.google.ca https://adservice.google.co.id https://adservice.google.co.mz https://adservice.google.co.th https://adservice.google.co.uk https://adservice.google.co.za https://adservice.google.com.au https://adservice.google.com.ec https://adservice.google.com.hk https://adservice.google.com.ng https://adservice.google.com.np https://adservice.google.com.ph https://adservice.google.com.sa https://adservice.google.de https://adservice.google.es https://adservice.google.fi https://adservice.google.fr https://adservice.google.ie https://adservice.google.it https://adservice.google.lk https://adservice.google.lt https://adservice.google.nl https://adservice.google.no https://adservice.google.rs https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net;script-src-attr none;style-src 'self' https: 'unsafe-inline' report-sample;report-uri https://5f9d927665d1a16209ba908c.endpoint.csper.io
x-dns-prefetch-control: off
expect-ct: max-age=0
x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
strict-transport-security: max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains
x-download-options: noopen
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-permitted-cross-domain-policies: none
referrer-policy: origin-when-cross-origin
x-xss-protection: 0
etag: W/"17ce4-JfzxwjnEBUjkkPhoexnTOFJTlv8"
set-cookie: cookienik=eyJjc3JmU2VjcmV0IjoiVXNzc1VhSnZqbjg2Mk1wSmhVTHNqQ2Z5In0=; path=/; expires=Sun, 12 Oct 2025 04:07:24 GMT; domain=wordnik.com; secure; httponly
set-cookie: cookienik.sig=ixysaGZCtvubuqssNX_Ke_trvoc; path=/; expires=Sun, 12 Oct 2025 04:07:24 GMT; domain=wordnik.com; secure; httponly
vary: Accept-Encoding
content-encoding: gzip
pusillanimous - definition and meaning
pusillanimous
love
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Lacking courage; cowardly.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Lacking strength and firmness of mind; wanting in courage and fortitude; being of weak courage; faint-hearted; mean-spirited; cowardly.
- Proceeding from lack of courage; indicating timidity.
- Synonyms Poltroon, Dastard, etc. See
coward . - 1 and
- Weak, feeble, timorous, spiritless, effeminate, dastardly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Destitute of a manly or courageous strength and firmness of mind; of weak spirit; mean-spirited; spiritless; cowardly; -- said of persons, .
- adjective Evincing, or characterized by, weakness of mind, and want of courage; feeble.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Showing
ignoble cowardice , orcontemptible timidity
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English pusillanimus, from Late Latin pusillanimis : Latin pusillus, weak, diminutive of pullus, young of an animal; see pau- in Indo-European roots + animus, reason, mind; see anə- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Derived from Latin pusillus ("very small") + animus ("spirit").
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pusillanimous.
Examples
-
Meral Ece a Liberal Coucillor is worrying in pusillanimous Liberal way about gun crime in the Gazette.
The Liberal Answer To Gun Crime Newmania 2007
-
Meral Ece a Liberal Coucillor is worrying in pusillanimous Liberal way about gun crime in the Gazette.
Archive 2007-05-06 Newmania 2007
-
... is worrying in pusillanimous Liberal way about gun crime in the Gazette ...
The Liberal Answer To Gun Crime Newmania 2007
-
We have been laborious, contented, and prosperous; and if we have been reabsorbed by the mother country, in accordance with what I cannot but call the pusillanimous conduct of certain of our elder
The Fixed Period Anthony Trollope 1848
-
Moderator, I withdraw the 'pusillanimous' barb unreservedly.
-
At least real conservatives stick by their guns, but you're the worst kind of pusillanimous, wobbling imbeciles.
-
PS I was in a play once where I used the word "pusillanimous".
Pusillanimous Kirsty 2006
-
It must have been great to say the 'pusillanimous' line.
Pusillanimous Kirsty 2006
-
At least real conservatives stick by their guns, but you're the worst kind of pusillanimous, wobbling imbeciles.
-
Wow, I haven't heard the word "pusillanimous" since the last time I watched "The Wizard of Oz"!
jeffazi commented on the word pusillanimous
Lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful.
November 14, 2007
tonya commented on the word pusillanimous
"Don't be such a pussy cat!" is how I remember this :).
August 9, 2008
renumeratedfrog commented on the word pusillanimous
I guess this is an onomatopoeia because it sounds similar to what it means.
August 20, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word pusillanimous
Shrivel and die, you pusillanimous wimp!
-- SMAC insult given to head of U.N.
August 20, 2008
dontcry commented on the word pusillanimous
Makes me think of pussinbootsimous
October 16, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word pusillanimous
Isn't that a dinosaur of some kind?
October 16, 2008
dontcry commented on the word pusillanimous
I believe it is. A small-ish one with little cat feet and a large feather on the top of his head.
October 16, 2008
reesetee commented on the word pusillanimous
I always think of the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz (the movie). The Wiz uses this word on him.
October 17, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word pusillanimous
Hmmm... The Wiz.... *thinks*
October 17, 2008
qroqqa commented on the word pusillanimous
JIMMY: I looked up that word the other day. It's one of those words I've never been quite sure of, but always thought I knew.
CLIFF: What was that?
JIMMY: I told you—pusillanimous. Do you know what it means?
Cliff shakes his head.
Neither did I really. All this time, I have been married to this woman, this monument to non-attachment, and suddenly I discover that there is actually a word that sums her up. Not just an adjective in the English language to describe her with—it's her name! Pusillanimous! It sounds like some fleshy Roman matron, doesn't it? The Lady Pusillanimous seen here with her husband Sextus, on their way to the Games.
—John Osborne, Look Back in Anger
June 10, 2009
inkstains commented on the word pusillanimous
Lily-livered.
:)
June 27, 2009
jodi commented on the word pusillanimous
"It is China that has come out of the affair looking pusillanimous. Pressed by Hillary Clinton, America’s secretary of state, to chastise North Korea, in public Chinese officials avoided even mentioning the attack on the Cheonan and merely called for restraint on all sides (see article). They presumably fear jeopardising the stability of their renegade ally. But that is not just feeble, it is silly. Letting Mr Kim get away with this outrage will only tempt him to try more." https://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16216482
May 30, 2010
dbekeny commented on the word pusillanimous
WIZARD
Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a
very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous
creature that crawls on the earth -- or
slinks through slimy seas has a brain!
June 2, 2010
dailyword commented on the word pusillanimous
This word was used in the book version of "Gone With The Wind" when someone was telling Scarlet about her father's former overseer.
June 13, 2012