Word.ws English Dictionary

poltroon

/pɒlˈtɹuːn/US/pɑlˈtɹun/

poltroon noun: an ignoble or total coward; a dastard; a mean-spirited wretch.

Noun

poltroon (plural poltroons)

  1. An ignoble or total coward; a dastard; a mean-spirited wretch.
    • Patience is for poltroons, such as he:
      He durst not sit there, had your father lived.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
    • For the Devil’s a Coward in Nature,
      A pitiful sorry Poltroon;
      If you take but the Whip, he’ll give you the Slip;
      And before you can lash him, he’ll run.1727, Daniel Defoe, edited by J. Roberts, An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions, London, Chapter 8, page 144
    Synonyms:
    craven, dastard

Adjective

poltroon (comparative more poltroon, superlative most poltroon)

  1. Cowardly.
    • Accordingly, to excuse our deliberate inactivity in the north, we had to make a show of impotence, which gave them to understand that the Arabs were too poltroon to cut the line near Maan and keep it cut.1926, T. E. Lawrence, “Chapter 82”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom

poltroon meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Kannada

poltroon in Tamil

பேடி, படு கோழை, படு கோழைத்தனம்

poltroon in Urdu

بزدل, ڈرپوک

poltroon in Kannada

ಹೇಡಿ, ಅಂಜುಕುಳಿ

Examples of poltroon in a sentence

  • You damned poltroon, you never tried them!1778, George Washington, to Charles Lee following an act of insubordination:
  • "To gain life by means of a breach of faith and honour, were indeed to render myself the poltroon, and the villain my accusers believe me."1842, Nicholas Michell, “Chapter 28”, in The Traduced: An Historical Romance, volume I, London: T. & W. Boone, pages 266–267:
  • Strong had long understood Sir Francis Clavering’s character, as that of a man utterly weak in purpose, in principle, and intellect, a moral and physical trifler and poltroon.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 38, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I...
  • There was nothing of the poltroon about Adela Shannon Cork1951, P. G. Wodehouse, 'The Old Reliable', London: Hutchinson, published 1981, page 162:

Synonyms of poltroon

Forms of poltroon

Noun
pluralpoltroons
alternative formpoltron
Adjective
comparativemore poltroon
superlativemost poltroon

Origin of poltroon

From Middle French poltron, from Italian poltrone.

Words formed from poltroon

Words that rhyme with poltroon

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about poltroon

What does poltroon mean?
Poltroon means an ignoble or total coward; a dastard; a mean-spirited wretch.
What is poltroon in Tamil?
Poltroon in Tamil is பேடி, படு கோழை, படு கோழைத்தனம். See Poltroon meaning in Tamil.
How do you use poltroon in a sentence?
You damned poltroon, you never tried them!
What part of speech is poltroon?
Poltroon can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce poltroon?
Poltroon is pronounced /pɒlˈtɹuːn/ (UK).
What is the plural of poltroon?
The plural of poltroon is poltroons.

Words near poltroon in the dictionary

  1. poltophagists
  2. poltophagy
  3. Poltorak
  4. poltron
  5. poltrons
  6. poltroon
  7. poltrooneries
  8. poltroonery
  9. poltroonish
  10. poltroonishly
  11. poltroonism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: poltroon (page history and authors); poltroon (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); poltroon (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); poltroon (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-poltroon.wav.

Cite this entry: “poltroon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/poltroon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.