define cowardice
Cowardice is a trait wherein fear and excessive self-concern override doing or saying what is right, good, and of help to others or oneself in a time of needâit is the opposite of courage. As a label, cowardice indicates a failure of character in the face of a challenge. One who succumbs to cowardice is known as a coward, or informally a chicken. Many military codes of justice proscribe cowardice in combat as a crime punishable by death (note the phrase shot at dawn).