adj. 1. Unfaithful or disloyal to a belief, duty, or cause: "Consider the man who stands by his duty and goes to the stake rather than be recreant to it" (Mark Twain). 2. Archaic Craven or cowardly. n. 1. A faithless or disloyal person. 2. Archaic A coward. [Middle English recreaunt, defeated, from Old French recreant, present participle of recroire, to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance, from Medieval Latin recrēdere, to yield, pledge : Latin re-, re- + Latin crēdere, to believe; see kerd- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] recre·ance, recre·an·cy n. recre·ant·ly adv. |
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