Cowardice is a lack of courage — not the feeling of fear itself, but shrinking back when courage was needed. Fear is what you feel; cowardice is the judgment that you failed to act because of it.

Cowardice is a lack of courageCowardice（懦弱）是缺乏勇氣 not the feeling of fear itself不是害怕這種感覺本身 but shrinking back when courage was needed而是在需要勇氣的時候退縮了。Fear is what you feel害怕是你感受到的東西 cowardice is the judgment that you failed to act because of itcowardice 則是「你因為害怕而沒有採取行動」這樣的一種評斷。

It is a hard, blaming word. We talk of the cowardice of staying silent, of running away, of letting someone else take the risk.

It is a hard, blaming word這是個嚴厲、帶著指責意味的字。We talk of the cowardice of staying silent我們會說保持沉默是一種 cowardice of running away逃跑是一種 of letting someone else take the risk讓別人去冒險也是一種。

The person is a coward; the quality is cowardice; the adjective is cowardly. The word is fairly formal.

The person is a coward那個人就是 coward（懦夫） the quality is cowardice那種特質就是 cowardice the adjective is cowardly形容詞就是 cowardly。The word is fairly formal這個字算是相當正式的用語。

Though actually, people argue about it all the time: not every careful step is cowardice, and calling someone a coward is often unfair. Still, when English uses this noun, it usually means a shameful failure of nerve, not just being scared.

Though actually不過事實上 people argue about it all the time大家一直在爭論這件事 not every careful step is cowardice不是每一步謹慎小心都算 cowardice and calling someone a coward is often unfair而說某人是 coward 常常也不太公平。Still不過話說回來 when English uses this noun英文用到這個名詞的時候 it usually means a shameful failure of nerve通常指的是一種可恥的、缺乏膽量的失敗 not just being scared而不只是單純的害怕。