as in cowardly
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
his dastardly conduct in a critical moment haunted him for the rest of his life
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dastardly
Winter lasts a dastardly long time in Minnesota.
—
Miguel Otárola, Denver Post, 8 Feb. 2026
Dickinson came close, but was unfortunately outdone by dastardly Internet gamesmanship.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside, 30 Jan. 2026
Even if the evil swarm cannot be stopped, the good swarm can deflect it and help save you from its dastardly efforts.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Having witnessed his parents' murder at a young age by the villainous Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), Love and his gang seek out the dastardly criminal, recently freed from prison.
—Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dastardly
Miguel Otárola, Denver Post, 8 Feb. 2026
Dickinson came close, but was unfortunately outdone by dastardly Internet gamesmanship.
—Frederick Dreier, Outside, 30 Jan. 2026
Even if the evil swarm cannot be stopped, the good swarm can deflect it and help save you from its dastardly efforts.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Having witnessed his parents' murder at a young age by the villainous Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), Love and his gang seek out the dastardly criminal, recently freed from prison.
—Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dastardly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dastardly
Adjective
-
The joke is on the cowardly villagers, and on Hoja himself, all of whom now have to live in a village terrorized by two war elephants instead of one.—
Perin Gürel,
The Conversation,
22 Apr. 2026
-
Your writing is disgusting and your lack of confronting this team front office head on is an enormous act of cowardly proportions.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
19 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
That said, Richie isn’t afraid to switch things up.—
Kaleigh Werner,
Footwear News,
19 May 2026
-
Zvyagintsev is not afraid of silence.—
Stephanie Bunbury,
Deadline,
19 May 2026
Adjective
-
It’s populated by craven, cowardly traitors.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
25 Mar. 2026
-
In a particularly craven twist, this letter enlisted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause to halt or hinder affinity programming in schools.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
20 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
But Wednesday night, they were handed a harsh lesson from a true contender — one that smelled blood against a team that cowered and played scared to death from the 20-minute mark on.—
Michael Russo,
New York Times,
14 May 2026
-
If nothing else, the manager is box office entertainment and will not be scared to stamp his authority on what seems like a club in crisis.—
Ben Church,
CNN Money,
13 May 2026
Adjective
-
The Americans in that Nebraska unit are isolated and frightened.—
Craig Spencer,
STAT,
13 May 2026
-
While one held the frightened animal’s head, the other — wearing a sweatshirt with an image of the Virgin Mary — applied the iron to a horn.—
Susanne Rust
Follow,
Los Angeles Times,
12 May 2026
Adjective
-
Some also have lost lawyers, dismayed by the pusillanimous behavior of their leaders.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
28 May 2025
-
The second believed the United States could attain comprehensive security through military-technological means and saw diplomacy as a quixotic or pusillanimous enterprise that dishonored and weakened the country.—
A. Wess Mitchell,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
On May 15, Swift wore a yellow dress on a dinner date with Travis Kelce in downtown Manhattan.—
Claire West,
PEOPLE,
20 May 2026
-
Several blocks around the Islamic center remained cordoned off with yellow police tape on the afternoon of the shooting.—
James Powel,
USA Today,
19 May 2026
Adjective
-
That larger significance is remarkably unheroic and fatalistic.—
Gabriel Winslow-Yost,
Harper's Magazine,
23 Sep. 2024
-
In the world of The Boys, based on the gleefully scabrous 2000s indie comic-book series of the same name by writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, superheroes are real, pop-culture-dominating, and with rare exceptions, entirely unheroic.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
13 June 2024
Cite this Entry
“Dastardly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dastardly. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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