chicken (out)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for chicken (out)
Verb
  • Plus, the captain tells Lo that the passenger assigned to cabin 10 backed out days before departure.
    Allison DeGrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Oct. 2025
  • But the ocean spits her back out.
    Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • China has been one of the few countries that hasn't backed down, relying on its economic clout.
    NPR, NPR, 12 Oct. 2025
  • China has been one of the few countries that hasn’t backed down, relying on its economic clout.
    Jason Ma, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • On Thursday, there were 652 officers on the force, with nearly 100 cops out on some kind of administrative or medical leave.
    Shomik Mukherjee, Mercury News, 8 Aug. 2025
  • But with that brief wave of hope came new footage on Twitter every night of the NYPD acting like bad cops out of a Harvey Keitel flick: cops harassing peaceful crowds, cops kettling activists, cops literally driving a car into a crowd of protestors.
    Maris Kreizman, Rolling Stone, 24 June 2025
Verb
  • Some plants wimp out when temperatures soar—but not these heat-tolerant perennials.
    Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 6 June 2025
  • These thick, long-lasting steamers will never wimp out mid-shower, and the cute packaging sure doesn't hurt either.
    Annie Blackman, Allure, 16 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Despite increasingly menacing warnings to back off and stop prying into the lives of rich power players thorny about their privacy, Lo remains determined to get to the truth.
    David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 9 Oct. 2025
  • The five-time major winner was heckled relentlessly, forced to back off putts due to crowd noise, and even went after a spectator who threw a beer at his wife, Erica, but was pulled back by officials.
    Devlina Sarkar, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Chicken (out).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chicken%20%28out%29. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

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