The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word RECREANT
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
R
E
C
R
E
A
N
T
More clues leading to the result RECREANT
- Abandon belief, holding religious teaching to be cowardly
- Cowardly to withdraw statement implicating soldiers
- Withdraw, carrying emptied rifle, being cowardly
- Cowardly soldiers interrupting to forswear a previously held belief
- To unsay what has been said about sappers is cowardly
- . Cowardly person's career transformed by book
- Apostate discovering religious text after chequered career
- Treacherous reactionaries excoriated civil rights efforts and needled their leaders
- Coward thrashed canterer
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Cowardly" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case cowardly = recreant.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does RECREANT mean?
RECREANT noun- Somebody who is recreant, who yields in combat; a coward or traitor.
- Having admitted defeat and surrendered; defeated.
- Unfaithful to someone, or to one's duties or honour; disloyal, false.