yellow streak
Lack of courage
A yellow streak is a tendency toward cowardice.
Yellow has long been associated with cowardice in English—a yellow-bellied person lacks courage.
Someone with a yellow streak might talk tough but back down when confronted: He acts brave, but he's got a yellow streak a mile wide.
Without bravery or nerve
- cravenContemptibly lacking nerve
- spinelessLacking courage or resolve
- gutlessLacking bravery or nerve
- faintheartedCowardly, easily discouraged
chickenhearted · lily-livered · pusillanimous · timorous · dastardly · poltroon · milksop · unheroic
Not deserving of confidence
- dishonorableLacking integrity or ethics
- sneakyStealthily deceptive
- underhandedSecretly dishonest or unfair
- shiftySeeming dishonest or evasive
shady · treacherous · two-faced · deceitful · dishonest · insidious · slippery · unreliable
cowardly
Without bravery or nerve
fainthearted · chickenhearted · lily-livered · pusillanimous · timorous · dastardly · poltroon · milksop · unheroic · shrinking
untrustworthy
Not deserving of confidence
- dishonorableLacking integrity or ethics
- sneakyStealthily deceptive
- underhandedSecretly dishonest or unfair
shifty · shady · treacherous · two-faced · deceitful · dishonest · insidious · slippery · unreliable · contemptible
- cowardicecoward, cowardly, craven, gutless, spineless
- timiditybashfulness, shyness, timidness, timorousness, meekness
yellow streakbravery
Boldness before danger
courage · backbone · fearlessness · guts · valor
yellow streakbackbone
Vertebral column, or courage
spine · moral fiber · strength of character · fortitude · resolve
yellow, streak, yellows, yellowed, yellowing, yellowish, streaks, streaked, streaking