Crossword clues for pusillanimous
pusillanimous
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pusillanimous \Pu`sil*lan"i*mous\, a. [L. pusillanimis; pusillus very little (dim. of pusus a little boy; cf. puer a boy, E. puerile) + animus the mind: cf. F. pusillanime. See Animosity.]
Destitute of a manly or courageous strength and firmness of mind; of weak spirit; mean-spirited; spiritless; cowardly; -- said of persons, as, a pusillanimous prince.
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Evincing, or characterized by, weakness of mind, and want of courage; feeble; as, pusillanimous counsels. ``A low and pusillanimous spirit.''
--Burke.Syn: Cowardly; dastardly; mean-spirited; fainthearted; timid; weak; feeble.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., from Late Latin pusillanimis "having little courage" (used in Church Latin to translate Greek oligopsychos "small-souled"), from Latin pusillis "very weak, little" (diminutive of pullus "young animal;" see foal (n.)) + animus "spirit, courage" (see animus). Related: Pusillanimously; pusillanimousness.
Wiktionary
a. Showing ignoble cowardice, or contemptible timidity
WordNet
adj. lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful [syn: poor-spirited, unmanly]
Usage examples of "pusillanimous".
Hengist, who boldly aspired to the conquest of Britain, exhorted his countrymen to embrace the glorious opportunity: he painted in lively colors the fertility of the soil, the wealth of the cities, the pusillanimous temper of the natives, and the convenient situation of a spacious solitary island, accessible on all sides to the Saxon fleets.
But although the obscurity of the house of David might protect them from the suspicions of a tyrant, the present greatness of his own family alarmed the pusillanimous temper of Domitian, which could only be appeased by the blood of those Romans whom he either feared, or hated, or esteemed.
The defeat at Majuba Hill was followed by the complete surrender of the Gladstonian Government, an act which was either the most pusillanimous or the most magnanimous in recent history.
His extreme caution did not, however, escape the censure of the more rigid Christians, who lamented, or the reproaches of his personal enemies, who insulted, a conduct which they considered as a pusillanimous and criminal desertion of the most sacred duty.
We must discuss our present circumstances, eschewing all pusillanimous melancholy.
Let any woman who is disquieted by reports of her husband's derelictions figure to herself how long it would have taken him to propose to her if left to his own enterprise, and then let her ask herself if so pusillanimous a creature could be imaged in the role of Don Giovanni.