Pusillanimous: Lacking courage and resolution: marked by contemptible timidity: a person or organization exhibiting severe wimp-like behaviour in the face an opposing interest or interest holder
Synonyms: chicken, chicken-livered, chickenhearted, cowardly, craven, dastardly, gutless, lily-livered, milk-livered [archaic], poltroon, recreant, spineless, unheroic, yellow
Pusillanimous in a Sentence: pusillanimous politicians who vote according to whichever way the political wind is blowing
Example of pusillanimous: The current govenment of Costa Rica that pardons strikers.
The Spanish word is Pusilánime: Que muestra poco ánimo y falta de valor para emprender acciones, enfrentarse a peligros o dificultades o soportar desgracias.
The Latin roots of this derisive adjective are pusillus, meaning “very small” (and related to pusus, meaning “boy”) and animus, which means “spirit” and is the ancestor to many words in our language, including “animal” and “animate.”