spineless
/ˈspʌɪnləs
/adjective
1Having no spine or backbone; invertebrate.It remains a lifeless and spineless human creation....
- The lowly Zayante band-winged grasshopper is now listed, along with the Ohlone tiger beetle and 184 other spineless creatures.
- To tease out the details of the transition, other researchers recently turned to lancelets, vertebrates' closest spineless relatives.
2Weak and purposeless: a spineless coward...
- Ofelia, who was used to being the boss all the time, would now have to obey every word that was uttered from Stolly - a weak, spineless, cowardly man in her mind.
- He described career envoys as weak or spineless.
- Sure, they have vegetable plates too, if you're weak and spineless.
Synonyms
weak, weak-willed, weak-kneed, feeble, spiritless, soft, ineffectual, inadequate, irresolute, indecisive;
cowardly, timid, timorous, fearful, faint-hearted, pusillanimous, craven, submissive, unmanly, namby-pamby, lily-livered, chicken-hearted, limp-wristed, afraid of one's shadow
informal wimpish, wimpy, sissy, sissified, chicken, yellow, yellow-bellied, gutless, pathetic
British informal wet
North American vulgar slang candy-assed, chickenshit
archaic poor-spirited, recreant
3(Of an animal or plant) lacking spines: spineless forms of prickly pear have been selected...
- Rauwerdink later merged the two species into M. sagu, based on the fact that seeds from spineless palms can produce spiny seedlings.
- In addition, it is an attractive and spineless cactus, which increases its potential as an ornamental plant; therefore, collection may become a problem in the future.
- Coral are tiny spineless animals essential in building reefs, one of the planet's oldest and most complex ecosystems.
Derivatives
spinelessly
- They accuse Schröder of spinelessly orienting policy according to headlines in the tabloid-style Bild, Germany's most widely read newspaper.
- He was famous for his shouting matches, but also for standing up to the House Un-American Activities Committee when most producers spinelessly caved in.
- She couldn't believe she had behaved so spinelessly.
spinelessness
- Fischer's obsequiousness is not simply, or even primarily, a reflection of his subjective cowardice and political spinelessness.
- The supposed spinelessness and ineptitude of politicians is often one of the few things about which military officers can agree.
- It went to the bunker, ranting about a conspiracy by animal rights fanatics and admonishing the biologists for spinelessness.
- adjustage
- adjustation
- adjusted gross income
- adjuster
- adjusting entry
- adjustive
- adjustment
- adjustmental
- adjustment center
- adjustment centre
- adjustment disorder
- adjutage
- adjutancy
- adjutant
- adjutant bird
- adjutant general
- adjutant stork
- adjutator
- adjutor
- adjutory
- adjutrix
- adjuvance
- adjuvancy
- adjuvant
- adjuvanted