spinelessness
Moral weakness displayed
Spinelessness is the quality of lacking courage, resolve, or willingness to stand firm.
The spine supports the body and keeps it upright, so someone without metaphorical spine collapses under pressure: His spinelessness in the face of criticism cost him the respect of his team.
The word carries contempt—spinelessness suggests not just weakness but a moral failing, an unwillingness to defend principles when doing so would be difficult.
Fearful lack of courage
- gutlessLacking bravery or nerve
- cravenContemptibly lacking nerve
- pusillanimousLacking courage or determination
- faintheartedCowardly, easily discouraged
chickenhearted · cowardly · meekness · poltroonery · wimpish · yellow · dastardly · recreant
Lack of strength
- impotenceLack of strength or power
- powerlessnessInability to affect outcomes
- ineffectualityInability to produce results
- helplessnessLacking ability to cope
inadequacy · incapacity · invertebrate · limp · flaccid · boneless · wet noodle · characterlessness
Disposition to obey others
- yieldingBending under pressure
- acquiescenceUnresisting acceptance
- obsequiousnessServile eagerness to please
- servilityExcessive willingness to please
deference · passivity · docility · pliancy · sycophancy · bootlicking · toadying · fawning
Lacking moral standards
- corruptibleAble to be bought
- compromisedMade vulnerable to harm
- sycophancyObsequious behavior toward authority
- obsequiousnessServile eagerness to please
servility · toadying · bootlicking · kowtowing · brown-nosing · acquiescence · compliance · conformity
Inability to choose
- waveringShowing unsteady resolve
- irresolutionLack of firm decision
- fence-sittingRefusing to take sides
- flip-floppingRepeatedly reversing one's stance
wishy-washy · noncommittal · dithering · equivocation · hesitancy · waffling · ambivalence · tentativeness
timidity
Fearful lack of courage
- gutlessLacking bravery or nerve
- cravenContemptibly lacking nerve
- pusillanimousLacking courage or determination
fainthearted · chickenhearted · cowardly · meekness · poltroonery · wimpish · yellow · dastardly · recreant · quailing
feebleness
Lack of strength
- impotenceLack of strength or power
- powerlessnessInability to affect outcomes
- ineffectualityInability to produce results
helplessness · inadequacy · incapacity · invertebrate · limp · flaccid · boneless · wet noodle · characterlessness · lack of backbone
submissiveness
Disposition to obey others
- yieldingBending under pressure
- acquiescenceUnresisting acceptance
- obsequiousnessServile eagerness to please
servility · deference · passivity · docility · pliancy · sycophancy · bootlicking · toadying · fawning · subservience
unprincipled
Lacking moral standards
- corruptibleAble to be bought
- compromisedMade vulnerable to harm
- sycophancyObsequious behavior toward authority
obsequiousness · servility · toadying · bootlicking · kowtowing · brown-nosing · acquiescence · compliance · conformity · yielding
vacillation
Inability to choose
- waveringShowing unsteady resolve
- irresolutionLack of firm decision
- fence-sittingRefusing to take sides
flip-flopping · wishy-washy · noncommittal · dithering · equivocation · hesitancy · waffling · ambivalence · tentativeness · second-guessing
- vicesgreed, envy, lust, gluttony, vanity
- weaknessesweakness, flaw, failing, defect, shortcoming
- passivitypassiveness, inaction, inactivity, submissiveness, acquiescence
- sycophancyfawning, toadying, groveling, kowtowing, brown-nosing
- timiditybashfulness, shyness, timidness, timorousness, meekness
spinelessnessintegrity
Moral soundness and consistency
backbone · moral courage · rectitude · uprightness · moral fiber