Recreant \Rec"re*ant\ (-ant), a. [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.
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2. Apostate; false; unfaithful.
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Who, for so many benefits received,
Turned recreant to God, ingrate and false. --Milton.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Recreant \Rec"re*ant\, n.
One who yields in combat, and begs for mercy; a
mean-spirited, cowardly wretch. --Blackstone.
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You are all recreants and dastards! --Shak.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
recreant
adj 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]
n 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]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
RECREANT. A Coward; a poltroon. 3 Bl. Com. 340.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
apostate, craven, deserter, poltroon, ratter, renegade, turncoat
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