🐮 Cower: *Teeth Chattering*
Think you've got COWER down? COWER means: A) swagger; B) intimidate; C) cringe; D) conceal. Reveal the answer inside. 👉
A frightened dog tucks its tail and shrinks into the corner. It's cowering. If you cower, you physically shrink back because you're afraid or expecting harm. It's similar to cringe, but cringe can also describe recoiling from embarrassment, awkwardness, or disgust. Cower, by contrast, almost always suggests fear.
📚️ Definition of Cower
Cower (verb): to show fear by cringing or crouching, especially by making oneself more distant: to cower in fear.
🗣️ Pronunciation of Cower
IPA: ˈkau.ər (See IPA key)
Phonetic: KOW-uhr
📰 Examples of Cower
Here are some examples of the word Cower:
We cowered silently in our tents while the bears looked around for food.
During the 4.8 earthquake, Francisco cowered beneath the kitchen table, hoping it would protect him.
Some animals protect themselves by cowering in fear when threatened; humans who attempt this defense, however, may be subjected to ridicule.
🗣️ Common Collocations of Cower
A collocation is a group of words often found together in usage, for example figment of one’s imagination, extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather.
cower in fear
cower before someone
cower in the corner
cower under a table
cower at the sight of
make somebody cower
Quiz answer: C.
One last thing: don’t confuse cower with cringe. You can cringe at a bad joke or an embarrassing text message, but you cower only when you’re afraid. Next time, we’ll look at another very human behavior: wavering.