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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Recreant \Rec"re*ant\ (-ant), adjective [OF., cowardly, fr. recroire, recreire, to forsake, leave, tire, discourage, regard as conquered, LL. recredere se to declare one's self conquered in combat; hence, those are called recrediti or recreanti who are considered infamous; L. pref. re- again, back + credere to believe, to be of opinion; hence, originally, to disavow one's opinion. See {Creed}.]
1. Crying for mercy, as a combatant in the trial by battle; yielding; cowardly; mean-spirited; craven. ''This recreant knight.'' --Spenser.
2. Apostate; false; unfaithful.
Who, for so many benefits received, Turned recreant to God, ingrate and false. --Milton.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Recreant \Rec"re*ant\, noun One who yields in combat, and begs for mercy; a mean-spirited, cowardly wretch. --Blackstone.
You are all recreants and dastards! --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
recreant
adjective
1: having deserted a cause or principle; "some provinces had proved recreant"; "renegade supporters of the usurper" [syn: {renegade}]
2: 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 [syn: {craven}]
noun
1: an abject coward [syn: {poltroon}, {craven}]
2: a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc. [syn: {deserter}, {apostate}, {renegade}, {turncoat}, {ratter}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
110 Moby Thesaurus words for "recreant": Sabbath-breaker, apostate, arrant coward, atheist, atheistic, backslider, backsliding, bad egg, bad lot, base, black sheep, blackguardly, blasphemer, blasphemous, bolter, caitiff, collaborationist, collaborative, collaborator, convert, craven, dastard, dastardly, defector, degenerate, degraded, derelict, deserter, disaffected, disloyal, dunghill, dunghilly, faithless, fallen, fallen angel, fallen from grace, false, fickle, fifth columnist, impious, inconstant, infamous, irreligious, irreverent, knavish, lapsed, lecher, lost sheep, lost soul, miscreant, mugwump, not true to, notorious, of bad faith, perfidious, pervert, pimp, poltroon, poltroonish, profanatory, profane, profligate, proselyte, pusillanimous, quisling, rascally, rat, recidivist, recidivistic, renegade, renegado, renegate, reprobate, reversionist, roguish, runagate, sacrilegious, sacrilegist, scampish, scapegrace, schismatic, scoundrelly, seceder, secessionist, separatist, sneak, sorry lot, strikebreaker, tergiversant, tergiversating, tergiversator, traitor, traitorous, treacherous, treasonable, treasonous, trollop, trothless, turnabout, turncoat, turntail, unbeliever, undutiful, unfaithful, unloyal, unsteadfast, untrue, vile, villainous, whore
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |