0%

poltroon

pol·troon
P p

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [pol-troon]
    • /pɒlˈtrun/
    • /pɔlˈtruːn/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [pol-troon]
    • /pɒlˈtrun/

Definitions of poltroon word

  • noun poltroon a wretched coward; craven. 1
  • adjective poltroon marked by utter cowardice. 1
  • noun poltroon an abject or contemptible coward 0
  • noun poltroon a thorough coward; craven 0
  • adjective poltroon cowardly 0

Information block about the term

Origin of poltroon

First appearance:

before 1520
One of the 28% oldest English words
1520-30; earlier pultrowne, pultron, poultroone < Middle French poultron < Old Italian poltrone idler, coward, derivative of poltro foal < Vulgar Latin *pulliter, derivative of Latin pullus young animal; see foal

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Poltroon

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

poltroon popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 54% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

poltroon usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for poltroon

noun poltroon

  • bezonian — a knave or rascal
  • chicken — Chickens are birds which are kept on a farm for their eggs and for their meat.
  • coward — If you call someone a coward, you disapprove of them because they are easily frightened and avoid dangerous or difficult situations.
  • cullion — a despicable person
  • dastard — a contemptible sneaking coward

adj poltroon

  • craven — Someone who is craven is very cowardly.
  • meanspirited — petty; small-minded; ungenerous: a meanspirited man, unwilling to forgive.

adjective poltroon

  • wimpish — of, relating to, or characteristic of a wimp.
  • wimpy — of, relating to, or characteristic of a wimp.
  • wussy — a weakling; wimp.

Top questions with poltroon

  • what does poltroon mean?
  • what is a poltroon?
  • what is poltroon?

See also

Matching words

Was this page helpful?
Yes No
Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page
Tell us why?