dynamic
toggle menu
menu
vocabulary
1000+ books

cower
in a sentence

show 189 more with this conextual meaning
  • The boy cowered, covered his face.   (source)
    cowered = showed fear by positioning the body as though afraid of being hit
  • Suddenly Lennie let go his hold. He crouched cowering against the wall.   (source)
    cowering = showing fear
  • Then he cowered back.   (source)
    cowered = showed fear by positioning the body as though afraid of being hit
  • Mowgli thrust his dead branch into the fire till the twigs lit and crackled, and whirled it above his head among the cowering wolves.   (source)
    cowering = showing fear by positioning the body as though afraid of being hit
  • All other lifeforms cowered from the heat, emitting only a vacant hum from the undergrowth.†   (source)
  • He still cowered slightly whenever he saw her.†   (source)
  • This one depicted a naked man cowering in front of the star, both his hands raised in fear.†   (source)
  • They slip through his fingers, but still he holds on to what he can until he's there in front of the man and woman, who now hold each other as if cowering in the path of a tornado.†   (source)
  • You have to understand how angry he was at Forte for cowering in there.†   (source)
  • She's the righteous one now I can feel myself start to shrink, to cower.†   (source)
  • He waved his hand back toward the Chinese family, cowering behind him.†   (source)
  • The wife of the tenor was cowering behind her husband's prodigious torso, and Kristina, one of the hotel's chambermaids, was backed against a wall, clutching an empty tray to her chest while at her feet lay a confusion of cutlery and kasha.†   (source)
  • SS are yelling at frightened workers, who cower at their desks as the SS pull books, cards, and paperwork from them.†   (source)
  • A few steps in, I remember I'm supposed to look like I'm cowering, so I slow my pace and hug the wall, keeping my head down.†   (source)
  • The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats.†   (source)
  • A small child cowered in the corner, her blonde hair loose and tangled, her feet bare and black with dirt.†   (source)
  • I knew immediately that that was the right response, not the cowering I had been considering.†   (source)
  • Thomas was embarrassed that they thought he was cowering there—he must look like a small child whimpering under his blankets, trying not to be seen.†   (source)
  • Corinne cowered as far away from him as she could get.†   (source)
  • I'm still cowering in the rover, but I've had time to think.†   (source)
  • They didn't fetch or cower or make big-eyed faces that say: "Love me, please."†   (source)
  • What young women are left dress themselves in rags, cower in basements.†   (source)
  • I pushed it open to find myself cowering before a bearded giant in a blood-soaked apron.†   (source)
  • The few Reds left behind cower on the ground, begging for mercy.†   (source)
  • Even if half the people cower in their homes, the rebels stand a chance.†   (source)
  • Not only the little boy, Jackson or Pierrot, would be cowering—so too would the extra help from the village.†   (source)
  • She was the girl who, when a volleyball sailed in her direction, cowered where she stood while the ball hit the gymnasium floor beside her, and her teammates and the gym teacher tried hard not to groan.†   (source)
  • Cinder folded her arms, cowering into herself.†   (source)
  • While Tita was singing and waving her wet hands in time, showering drops of water down on the griddle so they would "dance," Rosaura was cowering in the corner, stunned by the display.†   (source)
  • Birds were screaming, mice shrieking, and a little hopping thing came under the mat and cowered.†   (source)
  • DUDLEY DURSLEY, AUNT PETUNIA, and UNCLE VERNON are cowering behind a bed.†   (source)
  • I found myself cowering at the slightest sound or movement.†   (source)
  • I'm sorry," the trembling crackhead replied, cowering from Train's anger.†   (source)
  • The girl cowered and slunk away, joining a group of boys and girls her age, all of whom had been watching.†   (source)
  • On the package room's tiny black and white television (its screen no bigger than a CD case) a glamorous woman in long jangling earrings brandished her fists and shouted abusive Spanish at a cowering priest.†   (source)
  • Nothing was wrong with any of us that five days of cowering in blacked-out rooms in the middle of a war couldn't cure.†   (source)
  • Once he was deported at 2 A.M. and spent the night cowering, sleepless, near the border guard station, afraid for his life.†   (source)
  • Past the resentful older houses tinged green with envy, cowering in their private driveways among their private rubber trees.†   (source)
  • And graceful little Alice pulled back her lips in a horrific grimace and let loose with a guttural snarl that had me cowering against the seat in terror.†   (source)
  • The monster was upon him, it had discovered him, cowering here with a blank wall at his back.†   (source)
  • At which he cowered in awe before me — a magician, he thought, who seemed to know all about him and who had plucked him out of his world as easily as picking an apple off a tree.†   (source)
  • He focused on the need for speed, not camping in the forests of Maryland, cowering like a wounded animal, fearful that every noise meant the hunters were about to seize him.†   (source)
  • Like that's supposed to make them cower from me or something?†   (source)
  • At the sound of Tehlu's name the two red-masked figures cowered, then turned and ran off down the street.†   (source)
  • And here all of then —were whimpering and cowering, spooked by one doe.†   (source)
  • The skimmer lurched sideways, struck an escalator with a dozen cowering civilians on it, and tumbled in a mass of twisting metal and exploding ordnance.†   (source)
  • He also took delight in seeing me writhe in pain, cry or cower, vulnerable to his own inflated sense of power.†   (source)
  • Mal'akh saw fear in his victim's eyes and wondered how many people had ever seen the great Peter Solomon cower.†   (source)
  • A violent storm was raging, with a sound of drums and roaring, and I was beside myself with terror, and cowered in my bed praying for it to be over, shutting my eyes against the flashes of light that came in through the cracks in the shutters.†   (source)
  • There was fire in Daddy's eyes, but once again Grandma looked at him and he backed down; the three of them cowered like children before a chastising parent.†   (source)
  • What really happened is that Tom had to half carry me out of the house, me crying and shouting all the way, while poor Clara cowered in the kitchen.†   (source)
  • Growled when they chose; sulked, explained, demanded, strutted, cowered, cried and provoked each other to the edge of violence, then over.†   (source)
  • The sword showed Josh cowering in a corner of a darkened chamber.†   (source)
  • When we go into bars, we don't just cower down in the corner or lay low.†   (source)
  • I'm not cowering under my own roof.†   (source)
  • This was the same old violence Dede had cowered under for years.†   (source)
  • Heaven only knows how she must have despised her pale rat of a cowering mistress.†   (source)
  • That, he told himself, was a man's job, riding into action on the back of the great battle tanks, leaping off to hunt for the German infantrymen as they cowered in their holes.†   (source)
  • They mostly cowered, keeping their eyes on the ground.†   (source)
  • And how they cowered when they saw the carnivore!†   (source)
  • He was just in time, for a half-dozen spears hurtled over the wall of trees and buried themselves among the cowering villagers.†   (source)
  • The old biddies used to warn him that it was dangerous that I was so boldly happy, instead of shy and cowering around strangers.†   (source)
  • Save us, my brothers cried and cowered at my words.†   (source)
  • While the rest of us kids cowered against the wall, Doc arrived and had Esther carted out.†   (source)
  • Back through the second-class coaches, where the passengers cowered in their seats, where the smell of fear baked at high; then into the mail car, ripping open sealed bags, plugging bayonets into canvas sorting bins, jabbing at piled packages and cartons.†   (source)
  • They spun in circles in their cages or cowered in the corners.†   (source)
  • And yet there was something so powerfully rebuking, and at the same time so unassailable about his figure looming over them that Mr Charles' two drunken companions seemed to cower back like small boys caught by the farmer in the act of stealing apples.†   (source)
  • Inside the town hall, he found Plauen's high-ranking officials cowering in fear.†   (source)
  • Or maybe that was just the way Jessica slumped, cowering.†   (source)
  • The first time was a little less than a year after she was married, after he'd beaten her while she was cowering in the corner of the bedroom.†   (source)
  • Sure enough, I spotted Roscoe cowering behind a potted plant.†   (source)
  • He cowered back against the wall, causing the hood to fall from his face, and my stomach clenched so hard I thought I-might throw up.†   (source)
  • Last time we faced a demon, she just cowered and screamed.†   (source)
  • I am leaning into the corner, a boxer cowering against the ropes.†   (source)
  • I said, cowering.†   (source)
  • "What's going on?" she asks, stepping between Ann, who is cowering, and Felicity, who looks ready to roast Ann on a spit.†   (source)
  • Surely we're not going to sit cowering in this place because we're frightened to go and see him.†   (source)
  • Lump tried a halfhearted snarl in answer to the low, warning growl, then cowered against Cal.†   (source)
  • He began to whimper, cowering, his chin wobbling.†   (source)
  • The organist was a slightish man, white-haired, who seemed to hover in the alcove, his back to the audience, wizardly in his very smallness, and he hit the thunder pedal just as a figure on the screen drew back cowering from some danger above, and laughter swept the auditorium.†   (source)
  • Inside my own helplessness I cowered, sure he was going to kill her or hurt her very badly, and the way Mama lay there I believed she was actually ready to be beaten to death.†   (source)
  • With a faint cry the child cowered away from him.†   (source)
  • He was maimed and useless, just like Grace, and every time she thought of him, all she could see were those terrible eyes cowering in the corner of that stinking stall at Mrs. Dyer's.†   (source)
  • While I cowered, he loosened his bindings.†   (source)
  • But they'll catch fish to put on the stones, and cower!†   (source)
  • She pivoted on a thicksoled shoe to eye each of the cowering haglings.†   (source)
  • The blaze in the fire pit seemed to shrink before this storm of light, like a small dog cowering before a larger one.†   (source)
  • The Chicago Evening Post would trumpet the city's vitality: "But when the raging fiend had died of plethora the old energy again came forth....Citizens who had cowered and fled before it in awe arose bravely and said, 'We can conquer everything else.'†   (source)
  • As a matter of closure, if I could enter Mother's house without cowering down to her and display myself as the fair-minded, independent, responsible person that I strive to be, then by the time I left, I'd know in my heart I was no longer looked upon as a child called "It."†   (source)
  • Major Major submitted meekly to Milo's tugging and cowered in disgrace at his private table throughout the whole meal.†   (source)
  • Awe and fear fell upon Frodo, and he cowered down, shutting his eyes and not daring to look up as the boat drew near.†   (source)
  • Panicking, Shay cowered and raised his arms in defense.†   (source)
  • The Winter King shot a poisonous glance at the cowering Steward.†   (source)
  • Third Sister was pushed into the room, but as soon as she fell to the floor she clambered to her feet, ran to a corner, and cowered there.†   (source)
  • Wolves would cower in the glens like foxes when they caught that deadly scent.†   (source)
  • I saw that Mary Hadfield was cowering behind him in the saddle and realized she'd had the wit to go and fetch him here.†   (source)
  • As we rose higher, teachers poured out of the school, pushing aside screaming kids, who cowered and tried to hide.†   (source)
  • But at this very moment BoneMan's daughter, who was now Ryan's daughter, cowered in the basement, giving her soul to him!†   (source)
  • When I broke down the door, I found women, cowering, whimpering women.†   (source)
  • I cowered, sick at the sight, but unable to divorce myself from the horror.†   (source)
  • The figure is silent, but it is also cowering.†   (source)
  • He liked that image of himself as the bakery rip-off man: the girls cowering behind the counter, in front of the neat, brown loaves of bread, the sticky-sweet cinnamon buns.†   (source)
  • With its single row of tiny windows it looked to Rex like one of those bunkers that rocket scientists cowered in while they tested some new missile that might explode on the launchpad.†   (source)
  • But then she took him too, Sonny Nieminen, a man who could make well-trained men cower.†   (source)
  • She wouldn't cower.†   (source)
  • You proclaim that you need us, yet indulge the impertinence of asserting your right to rule us by force-and expect that we, who are not afraid of that physical nature which fills you with terror, will cower at the sight of any lout who has talked you into voting him a chance to command us.†   (source)
  • She's screaming at him, and this big bull of a guy cowers back, so she jumps at me.†   (source)
  • He glanced around to get his bearings, then saw Mark and Courtney cowering against the far wall.†   (source)
  • I see them cowering in the doorway.†   (source)
  • "Yes, my master," the smaller demon answered, cowering as it approached the mushroom throne.†   (source)
  • "Throw them some bread!" he yelled to Antonio, who was cowering behind him in the cabin.†   (source)
  • Even some reporters cower a little with her.†   (source)
  • Either the house had been deserted to begin with, the fugitive had escaped by some hidden passage, he was cowering inside, or tiiey would have to kill him in a fight that would range from room to room.†   (source)
  • And if animals felt the same psychic connection with Nina that she felt with them, then in that chilly Colorado night, the meadows and the wooded hills had been filled with small creatures that cowered miserably in their burrows.†   (source)
  • The Confederates cower in their trenches to avoid being trampled to death.†   (source)
  • "Gawd damn you," the man thundered at the cowering boy.†   (source)
  • Maratina filled a bucket with water and flung the contents towards our cowering screaming bodies.†   (source)
  • I swore at him and stepped over him as he cowered in the driveway.†   (source)
  • They cowered when they heard she'd be in charge of their school picnic.†   (source)
  • Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die.†   (source)
  • She pointed through the bars toward a girl with long blonde hair cowering in a corner.†   (source)
  • Metzger hit the deck and cowered with Oedipa as the can continued its high-speed caroming; from the other room came a slow, deep crescendo of naval bombardment, machine-gun, howitzer and small-arms fire, screams and chopped-off prayers of dying infantry.†   (source)
  • I thought of Angeline and her pup cowering at the bottom of the den where they had taken refuge from the thundering apparition of the aircraft, and I was shamed.†   (source)
  • They went downriver in a torrential rain, the young wife and the Bishop cowering under a poly-ethelene sheet.†   (source)
  • I did not then suspect that there was any other way I could learn the story of "The King of the Golden River" than to have been assigned in the beginning to Mrs. McWillie's cowering fourth grade, then wait for her to treat you to it on the rainy day of her choice.†   (source)
  • But even as she absorbed this knowledge she moved her head listlessly, conscious of something else, a voice, a man's voice, orotund, powerful, raging at the half-cowering and perspiring figure whose back was to her but whom she dimly recognized by the green eyeshade gone askew on his brow as Sholom Weiss.†   (source)
  • But now fears came swarming about my head like the black flying ants after a storm, and I cowered from the beat of their wings.†   (source)
  • When the flames touched it and the robe began to smolder, the dog who cowered in the ruined garden raised his head in a howl that was near to a sob.†   (source)
  • Silently, he cowered in the thorny bushes, blood dripped from the burning skin, from festering wounds dripped pus, and Siddhartha stayed rigidly, stayed motionless, until no blood flowed any more, until nothing stung any more, until nothing burned any more.†   (source)
  • She stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me.†   (source)
  • I told her about Korea and that cold and bitter retreat, and how Pio and I had fought side by side, had cowered together among the rocks and brush, had crept for miles across country.†   (source)
  • Not one to cower before this kind of effrontery, the President one week later suspended Stanton, and appointed in his place the one man whom Stanton did not dare resist, General Grant.†   (source)
  • Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss—   (source)
    cowered = showed fear by positioning the body as though afraid of being attacked
  • Then Kaa opened his mouth for the first time and spoke one long hissing word, and the far-away monkeys, hurrying to the defense of the Cold Lairs, stayed where they were, cowering, till the loaded branches bent and crackled under them.   (source)
    cowering = showing fear by positioning the body as though afraid of being attacked
  • Kotick roared in answer, and old Sea Catch waddled in with his mustache on end, blowing like a locomotive, while Matkah and the seal that was going to marry Kotick cowered down and admired their men-folk.   (source)
    cowered = ducked in fear
  • Horace cowered before Mr. White, his eyes on the floor.†   (source)
  • Now I was a weak, tiny mortal cowering in the darkness.†   (source)
  • No one was there-or if there was, He/It was cowering from her.†   (source)
  • It seems like we do a whole lot of cowering.†   (source)
  • 'Keep your 'airnet on!' said Mundungus, his arms over his head, cowering.†   (source)
  • He was fully dressed in his sharp suit, and I was cowering and half-naked.†   (source)
  • She scrambled in, pulled the lap robe over her legs, and cowered against the leather seat.†   (source)
  • By then Peter was cowering on the blood-smeared sidewalk, sobbing.†   (source)
  • Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.†   (source)
  • It was horrible to watch, like an oversized, balding baby, cowering on the floor.†   (source)
  • She was too busy cowering behind her cash register.†   (source)
  • Meanwhile he had cowered in a ditch with his head in a culvert and caught the shrapnel in his side.†   (source)
  • Neville jumped and cowered as though a bullet had narrowly missed him.†   (source)
  • As soon as the rover toppled, I curled into a ball and cowered.†   (source)
  • It shook her, weakened her, and she cowered in her mind, fearful of him.†   (source)
  • The guard who'd brought the teeth cowered in fear.†   (source)
  • At the shrill whine of the bomb everyone cowered on the ground.†   (source)
  • Someone was cowering against the dark wall, her wand in her hand, her whole body shaking with sobs.†   (source)
  • Each dive brought every man, cornered and cowering, to face his execution.†   (source)
  • The boy cowered to his right and behind, a small shadow.†   (source)
  • Katrina cowered at the far end of an iron cot.†   (source)
  • I cowered behind the nearest potted plant.†   (source)
  • Will and Jim cracked their bones, cowered down.†   (source)
  • FAMILY I COWERED INTO JACOB'S SIDE, MY EYES SCANNING the forest for the other werewolves.†   (source)
  • Aphrodite was curled up on the chair, cowering from the specters.†   (source)
  • The guards let me go, sprinting to capture him, and I cowered on the floor, petrified.†   (source)
  • He'd shooed away the dog, who was cowering, whimpering, as if it knew both his crime and his fate.†   (source)
  • But instead he barked at the statues and cowered heroically behind my legs.†   (source)
  • Cowering in an alley, he was medium size but skinny and covered in grime.†   (source)
  • Maria Jane Capaldi cowered like a frightened little girl against the far wall.†   (source)
  • Many lived, but they cowered, they scurried, they fled.†   (source)
  • Only Sam and Esme stayed put, baffled and cowering.†   (source)
  • His brothers and sisters cowered against the inner wall.†   (source)
  • Flinging themselves to the ground, the soldiers cowered and hid their faces from the monsters.†   (source)
  • At first, they cling tight: Soly cowering, Iris with clenched fists.†   (source)
  • She took one last look at the bronze faun cowering before the sunrise and the Athena Parthenos.†   (source)
  • Figgis cowered and ran out of the room like a guilty puppy.†   (source)
  • She gasped and cowered back against a wall, her fangs bared, a low hiss coming from her throat.†   (source)
  • He understood then how a rabbit must feel when it cowers in its den while a wolf digs after it.†   (source)
  • His sister-in-law screamed faintly, then cowered in her chair and stared at him mutely.†   (source)
  • I see the faithless Hound and Rowan's cowering sorcerer, but where is Bram?†   (source)
  • I cowered in the corner, cringing against Edward.†   (source)
  • Suddenly Fiver shivered and cowered down.†   (source)
  • With a dreadful stroke Sam was wakened from his cowering mood.†   (source)
  • I found Galahad cowering under the bed just now.†   (source)
  • The very wordraid had her cowering in terror.†   (source)
  • A pity that your man was hurt while Rowan's champion cowered in the shadows.†   (source)
  • He had been cowering in the tackroom, fearing to be blamed for mywild ride.†   (source)
  • He cowered in fear when I motioned to stab him.†   (source)
  • They fell, a rain of hot coals from the sky, and she cowered, throwing up her arms.†   (source)
  • She was cowering at the back wall, trapped by a turmoil of shrieking mares.†   (source)
  • The creatures surround the cowering priestesses.†   (source)
  • I experienced their hushed voices and the way they cowered reflexively when he called for them.†   (source)
  • "I shall now select my Empress!" he said, looking down on the cowering people.†   (source)
▲ show less (of above)