Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Lacking courage or willpower.
- adj. Biology Having no spiny processes.
- adj. Biology Lacking a spinal column; invertebrate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having no spine or spinal column; invertebrate.
- Having no backbone, vigor, or courage; limp; weak; nerveless.
- Having the backbone flexible or supple.
- In ichthyology, having no fin-spines; soft-finned; anacanthine; malacopterous: as, the spineless fishes, or Anacanthini.
Wiktionary
- adj. Having no spine
- adj. uncourageous
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having no spine, or vertebral column.
- adj. Having no thorns or barbs.
- adj. lacking in strength of character; cowardly, in a physical or moral sense.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. lacking a backbone or spinal column
- adj. lacking thorns
- adj. lacking spiny processes
- adj. weak in willpower, courage or vitality
Etymologies
- spine + -less (Wiktionary)
Examples
“She smiled as she made the word "spineless" into a compliment.”
“To sum up this view in a single word: we wish we had a nickel for every time a blogger modified the word "moderate" with the word "spineless.”
“The spineless is a little tame, but it's still a good foil for other vegetables and sauces.”
“Yorkshire, who were described as "spineless" by their director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, after they were routed inside three days by Warwickshire at Headingley last week, offered more spirited resistance here, led by Gary Ballance's championship-best 92 not out in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 149 with Adil Rashid, who ended the day on 62.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“Your protesting Don's sarcastic comment, and his insistance on sticking with it, inspite of his "staying neutral" reminded me of Christ's enemies protesting what Pilate wrote (for fear that people would actually believe he was the "King of the Jews"), Pilate's refusal to change it and his previous "spineless" - ness.”
“In the case of the president that is being called spineless and middling by the blood-thirsty and his supporters alike, the real or perceived truth hurts particularly when I leaned toward believing that advancing, maturing race relations manifested itself in the election of an unflappable guy who, loosely speaking, looked like me; a man who called my old neighborhood his home, too; and who shared my astrological lineage for what that's worth, given that we were born a day apart.”
The Huffington Post: Derrick K. Baker: Has the Real Obama Already Stood Up?
“And being spineless is going to get them voted out of office if they don’t change and start going on the offensive.”
Think Progress » The ‘facts’ of the Christmas Day plot are ‘clear’ — to everyone except John McCain.
“January 15, 2010 5: 24 PM in reply to Indie Pro and when they don't, they are called spineless by their own "supporters".”
Barney Frank: 'If Scott Brown Wins, It'll Kill The Health Bill'
“The guy is either off his head, more than the normal kind of spineless or has confessed that under his command the streets in his area are now completely lawless.”
“Hillarity used to have my respect, but baseless and spineless claims like this are indeed laughable in fact we need to redefine "spineless".”
Clinton: Vetting process for administration jobs 'a nightmare'
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spineless’.
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
-more or -less
Words ending with *more or *less, more or less. Many of theses terms also appear on the list The -less Said, which see.
schemaless, unless, useless, guileless, wireless, regardless, homeless, endless, nevertheless, countless, jobless, doubtless and 434 more...
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Fearlobes
EEK! Emotion words and words associated with fear. Let's avoid -phobia words.
terrified, threatened, paralyzed, afraid, tormented, frightened, scared, blench, worried, cowardly, fretful, menaced and 57 more...
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anatomopeia
Sounds like you are .........
green-fingered, lily-livered, yellow-bellied, bleary-eyed, hare-brained, loose-tongued, tongue-tied, sure-footed, two-faced, double-jointed, light-fingered, bone idle and 71 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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The -less Said...
hopeless, bootless, groundless, luckless, artless, feckless, hapless, joyless, useless, penniless, childless, peerless and 310 more...
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the 'voice' of reason
A wise man once said: Threats are the last resort of a man with no vocabulary.
recreant, ninny, nincompoop, sapskull, lunatic, buffoon, domnoddy, half-wit, imbecile, spineless, craven, maggot and 26 more...
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words I like
creature, twisted, breathe, poplar, fascination, technicolor, spineless, surreal, illuminated
Tweets
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