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View synonyms for cower

cower

[ kou-er ]

verb (used without object)

  1. to crouch, as in fear or shame.

    Synonyms: quail, flinch, recoil, cringe



cower

/ ˈkaʊə /

verb

  1. intr to crouch or cringe, as in fear
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Other Words From

  • cower·ing·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cower1

1250–1300; Middle English couren; cognate with Norwegian, Swedish kūra, Middle Low German kūren, German kauern
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cower1

C13: from Middle Low German kūren to lie in wait; related to Swedish kura to lie in wait, Danish kure to squat
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Example Sentences

We laughed that off, but it was harder to do the same when everyone coming down the trail toward us cowered in fear at the sight of the dogs the hiker lied had just bit him.

No one locked in a room, cowering under a table for hours, was laughing.

From Time

In fact, many have accused Blancaflor of cowering to the influence of the United States.

There were barely two dozen journalists in theaters that seat hundreds, all scattered around in separate rows, cowering in their masks.

In the apartment were young Denise, her mother and aunt, and two small children who cowered under blankets as the gang terrorized the others, police said.

Durbin has spoken out fearlessly against the NRA while so many of his colleagues in Congress cower.

Camus did not cower from the depressing implications of his insight.

Life in Gaza has ground to a halt as electricity fails, bombs fall, and residents cower.

Was this their first real rocket-induced cower, as it was mine?

Either we have the means to intimidate them or we have to cower in fear.

Will not this coming Yankee Congress force all the world either to cower before them, or check them by upholding us?

And he would cower in the background blushing his absurd little blushes at his second-hand temerity.

Wave after wave of them come across in their field gray-blue uniforms and they never cower.

If, with growing clarity of vision, catastrophe ensued, then was time enough to shrink and cower.

But even then Ruth could not speak; it had come in too tender a moment, had found her too exposed; she could only cower back.

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