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plural invertebrates
An animal without vertebrae, i.e. backbone. examples
(informal) A spineless person; a coward. examples
not comparable
Lacking a backbone; without vertebrae. quotations examples
Tear it up, and put a fragment under the microscope, and, wonder of wonders! see the maze of geometric forms exhibited in the bones of the creature; for who can help regarding the spicules as bones, even though a sponge be invertebrate?
1860, Recreative Science, page 110
Cowardly, uncourageous; lacking character. quotations examples
This week Fifa’s morally invertebrate president, Gianni Infantino, gave a speech that attempted to paint his World Cup as a marker of a grand struggle between the bright new world and corrupt old Europe, with Infantino himself the Mandela at its centre.
2022 November 21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian