RECREANTS Synonyms: 101 Similar and Opposite Words

recreants

noun

plural of recreant

as in deserters

a person who abandons a cause or organization usually without right traditionally armies have dealt harshly with recreants, with execution being a common punishment for desertion during wartime

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as in cowards

a person who shows a shameful lack of courage in the face of danger the historian reserved his greatest contempt for those recreants who opposed the witch hunt but lacked the courage to speak out against it

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as in traitors

one who betrays a trust or an allegiance a spy and recreant to his country

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for recreants

Noun

And within his own country’s history, particularly, Dhont discovered the fates that met would-be deserters who were caught — brutal sentences often leading to death.

— David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2026
Harry Truman granted amnesty to certain World War II deserters, while Jimmy Carter granted pardons to hundreds of thousands of individuals who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War.

— Stewart Ulrich, The Conversation, 15 Dec. 2025

Definition of deserters

Noun

To me, the most notable change — outside of Robert not getting fully naked, you cowards — is that the meltdown is witnessed by much more of the senior class.

— Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 13 Aug. 2026
In reality, the refs just do the bidding of the cowards behind the curtain.

— Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 14 July 2026

Definition of cowards

Noun

In reality, the big debate has been about questions such as whether military bases should be named for traitors and whether governments should host monuments to a rebellion to defend slavery.

— David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 21 July 2026
Those who opposed the coup, like Tom Keith's grandfather, are still often thought of as traitors, just as his distant relatives are.

— Lee Cowan, CBS News, 12 July 2026

Definition of traitors

Noun

But Meghan’s famous rescue chickens have remained behind in Montecito, Sykes said on his YouTube Channel, citing a report in The Telegraph.

— Martha Ross, Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2026
Cullen spent some of his childhood working on a farm, telling NPR in 2014 his earliest vocal lessons came from imitating the chickens, cows and dogs that littered the farmland.

— Corbin Bolies, Variety, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of chickens

Noun

The insecurity landscape is also more chaotic because some groups, after initially being invited to help defend against insurgents, turned into terrorists, said Dengiyefa Angalapu, an analyst at the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja.

— Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 31 Aug. 2026
Socialists have found a new footing in the party, with younger and more left-wing insurgents ousting older establishment figures to demand generational and ideological change.

— Ramsey Touchberry, The Washington Examiner, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of insurgents

Noun

In some ways, there is a strange kind of unity to these three—all are set during the Depression, all feature stylish renegades.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2026
There are Sixties rock bands like the Sonics and the Small Faces, and pioneering hippie renegades like Love or the Thirteenth Floor Elevators.

— Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 24 June 2026

Definition of renegades

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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recreants

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“Recreants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recreants. Accessed 3 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of recreants

noun

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