recreant
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recreant
- /ˈɹɛkɹɪənt/ UK
- /ˈɹɛkɹiənt/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle English recreaunt, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French recreant (“defeated”), from recroire (“to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance”). Compare miscreant.
adjective more recreant · most recreant
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Having admitted defeat and surrendered; defeated.
Soothly, he that despeireth hym is lyk
The coward champious recreant, that seith,
Creant withoute nede, allas! akkas! bedekes us
He recreant and nedelees despeired.
[Translation by Larry D. Benson from Riverside Chaucer: Truly, he that despairs himself is like the cowardly defeated champion, who say
Similar: beaten, overcome, subjugated, vanquished, foiled, bested, broken, confounded, conquered, defeated, licked, overpowered
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Unfaithful to someone, or to one's duties or honour; disloyal, false.
Who, for ſo many benefits receiv'd, / Turn'd recreant to God, ingrate and falſe, / And ſo of all true good himſelf deſpoil'd, […]
Similar: guiled, proditorious, trothless, booky, dastardly, disleal, disloyal, double-crossing, double-dealing, double-faced, double-hearted, doublehearted
noun recreants
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Somebody who is recreant, who yields in combat; a coward or traitor.
[I]n the Choephoroe of Aeschylus Orestes pursues the same idea saying that unless he avenges his father, a stern duty which has devolved upon him, he will be punished in turn by the avengers of his father's wrongs. It may be remarked that in Maina to-day no recourse must be had to law for such cases
Similar: apostate, coward, deserter, poltroon, renegade, turncoat, backstabber, betrayer, cockatrice, double-crosser, quisling, rat
Talk about this word "recreant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/recreant. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. recreant. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/recreant "recreant." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/recreant.Cite this
@misc{recreant_2026,
title = {recreant},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/recreant},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
