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
-
And unlike the cowardly ambiguity and doubletalk toward Iran and its nuclear program in the past by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Joe Biden and Antony Blinken, Trump was clear as a bell.—
Peter Lucas,
Boston Herald,
4 July 2025
-
Those cowardly films ignore the ideological confusion and moral bankruptcy that precede political and creative failure.—
Armond White,
National Review,
4 July 2025
Adjective
-
Although Indiana has not experienced an immigration raid at this scale, community leaders shared that many in migrant communities are afraid that they may potentially be picked up off the street and deported, whether rightfully or not.—
Noe Padilla,
IndyStar,
23 July 2025
-
If getting this set up on your own sounds daunting, don’t be afraid to ask for help, McCoy says.—
Ryan Ermey,
CNBC,
23 July 2025
Adjective
-
Many people may be intrinsically frightened of robots.—
Bernard Marr,
Forbes.com,
2 July 2025
-
More than 25,000 onlookers came to see the whale over the next few days, but when a thunderstorm erupted on July 5, the whale became frightened.—
Kaycee Sloan,
The Enquirer,
2 July 2025
Adjective
-
Put simply, Johnson is the more coveted commodity on a craven reliever market at the trade deadline.—
Zach Pressnell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 July 2025
-
While health care and food assistance command the most attention, the craven assault on clean energy cannot be minimized.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
3 July 2025
Adjective
-
Some also have lost lawyers, dismayed by the pusillanimous behavior of their leaders.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
28 May 2025
-
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
Adjective
-
There’s people that are getting into trouble because the powers that be are scared, too.—
Mario Koran,
jsonline.com,
12 July 2025
-
Most notable in the repeat of Man of Steel elements and themes, there’s the Kryptonian message threatening earth, which makes the public scared, so Superman turns himself in to government authorities.—
Mark Hughes,
Forbes.com,
12 July 2025
Adjective
-
Listen, by doing it this way, with a press release instead of a press conference, Rose looks both gutless and gutty at the same time.—
Mike Lupica,
New York Daily News,
6 June 2025
-
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
Adjective
-
The bi-tone bezel, incidentally, is the key to keeping track of dastardly deeds in two different time zones simultaneously.—
Chris Haslam,
Wired News,
23 May 2025
-
Naturally, this doesn't last long, and he gets called in to help nab the elusive arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) — the most dastardly villain he's faced yet.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
21 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unheroic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unheroic. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
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