as in cowardly
having or showing a shameful lack of courage
the new biography casts the romanticized outlaw in a much more vicious and unheroic light
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Recent Examples of unheroic
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
And if the moderate theory appears cautious and unheroic, well, it's got nothing on the unheroic inactivity of most Republicans hoping to defang Trumpism, who have convinced themselves that the way to avoid a worse replay of the 2020 endgame is not to fight him openly at all.
—Ross Douthat New York Times, Star Tribune, 7 June 2021
But rational reasoning is no way to reach Josephine, as the adults around her discover one by one — beginning with Spencer, played with commendably unheroic tetchiness by Harington, as his sensitive support gradually sours into parental oneupmanship.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 2 Feb. 2023
From the costumes to the makeup, from visual effects to sound design, the goal was to be as realistic as possible and underscore the movie’s anti-war and deliberately unheroic depiction of an ordinary soldier in battle.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2023
John’s figures are wood stained in unheroic reality.
—Bob Guccione Jr, SPIN, 17 Feb. 2023
Capturing that horror, and giving a very unheroic cinematic vision of war, was one of the main goals for director Edward Berger in his new, German-language adaption of All Quiet on the Western Front.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Sep. 2022
Its stars still burn brightly—perhaps especially so in our own gruesomely unheroic times—with Ernest Shackleton considered by many to be the brightest star of them all.
—Sara Wheeler, WSJ, 11 Jan. 2022
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
And if the moderate theory appears cautious and unheroic, well, it's got nothing on the unheroic inactivity of most Republicans hoping to defang Trumpism, who have convinced themselves that the way to avoid a worse replay of the 2020 endgame is not to fight him openly at all.
—Ross Douthat New York Times, Star Tribune, 7 June 2021
But rational reasoning is no way to reach Josephine, as the adults around her discover one by one — beginning with Spencer, played with commendably unheroic tetchiness by Harington, as his sensitive support gradually sours into parental oneupmanship.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 2 Feb. 2023
From the costumes to the makeup, from visual effects to sound design, the goal was to be as realistic as possible and underscore the movie’s anti-war and deliberately unheroic depiction of an ordinary soldier in battle.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2023
John’s figures are wood stained in unheroic reality.
—Bob Guccione Jr, SPIN, 17 Feb. 2023
Capturing that horror, and giving a very unheroic cinematic vision of war, was one of the main goals for director Edward Berger in his new, German-language adaption of All Quiet on the Western Front.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Sep. 2022
Its stars still burn brightly—perhaps especially so in our own gruesomely unheroic times—with Ernest Shackleton considered by many to be the brightest star of them all.
—Sara Wheeler, WSJ, 11 Jan. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unheroic
Adjective
-
Those who resort to violence to undermine our state and nation must be held accountable, and our state leaders must reinforce through decisive action that these cowardly attacks will not be tolerated.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2025
-
The cowardly capitulation of Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps are negative examples to be learned from.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
29 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
If you’re seated at a gate where the next flight doesn’t leave for six hours, don’t be afraid to post up and get comfy.—
Louryn Strampe,
Wired News,
18 Apr. 2025
-
Give it up for the queen of not being afraid to reference or not reference (but mostly reference).—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
When a deputy arrived, the victim was shaking and frightened, the complaint said.—
Dylan Gentile,
USA Today,
25 Apr. 2025
-
The next night, her sister Gwen said Selonia became frightened when a relative who was visiting Selonia spotted Jimmy Ray Barnes near her home.—
Vladimir Duthiers, Paul LaRosa,
CBS News,
12 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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In the new showbiz comedy The Studio, Bryan Cranston has a recurring role as Griffin Mill, the craven movie executive played by Tim Robbins in the 1992 film The Player.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
25 Mar. 2025
-
In any event Marshall, a craven idiot, is a raucous, vulgar sendup of the bedrock American principle of Manifest Destiny.—
Tom Gliatto,
People.com,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
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
-
In this instance, though, the Administration is not attempting to trample on powerless civil servants or migrants, or pusillanimous law firms, or universities that don’t have as much money as Harvard does.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
21 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The Bears should be hoping other teams are scared off by Campbell’s shorter-than-ideal arms.—
Brad Biggs,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Apr. 2025
-
But much of the problem then was that Europeans were simply not scared enough to do their part.—
Barry R. Posen,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Two baseballs flew down toward the San Diego Padres’ Jurickson Profar from the left-field corner stands, the gutless moves of two cowards.—
Bill Plaschke,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Oct. 2024
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And the really jaw-dropping part of AMLO’s gutless abdication?—
Tim Padgett,
Sun Sentinel,
18 Aug. 2024
Adjective
-
Based on author Gregory Maguire’s spin on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the perspective of its most dastardly villain, Wicked follows would-be nemeses Galinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba as their unlikely friendship blossoms in college.—
Sezin Koehler,
EW.com,
28 Feb. 2025
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The closer analogy may actually be to Star Wars, a story about a boy named Luke Skywalker who is told that a dastardly villain called Darth Vader killed his father, Anakin Skywalker, only to discover that Vader is his father.—
Eliana Dockterman,
Time,
31 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unheroic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unheroic. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
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