Idiom
gutless wonder
Meaning
One who lacks guts or courage; a coward.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Don't be a gutless wonder and tell him the truth.”
“Nobody likes a gutless wonder who refuses to stand up for his friends.”
“He promised to support the new policy, but he turned into a gutless wonder when the boss started asking questions.”
“The manager acted like a gutless wonder by sending a group email instead of talking to the employees he planned to fire.”
“You are being a gutless wonder if you stay silent while that bully treats our new coworker so poorly.”
“The politician was branded a gutless wonder after he retreated from his campaign promises the moment he faced public opposition.”
Examples
simple
“Don't be a gutless wonder and tell him the truth.”
“Nobody likes a gutless wonder who refuses to stand up for his friends.”
contextual
“He promised to support the new policy, but he turned into a gutless wonder when the boss started asking questions.”
“The manager acted like a gutless wonder by sending a group email instead of talking to the employees he planned to fire.”
“You are being a gutless wonder if you stay silent while that bully treats our new coworker so poorly.”
complex
“The politician was branded a gutless wonder after he retreated from his campaign promises the moment he faced public opposition.”
Origin
The term originates from the comparison of a coward's figurative lack of courage to the physical absence of internal organs. The conceit suggests that the individual has been disembowelled yet remains inexplicably alive, rendering his bowel-less survival a medical or biological wonder. This ironic observation of a physiological impossibility serves to underscore the perceived depth of the subject's cowardice.
Key words
Related idioms
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