craven
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Unwilling to fight.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
krayvuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹeɪvən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly.
noun
A former local government district in North Yorkshire, England, merged in 2023 into the North Yorkshire unitary authority.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly.
Used this way, craven is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Warm and admiring
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Craven is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Nearby words
- poltroon , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.