invertebrate

Etymology

in- + vertebrate

noun

1. An animal without vertebrae, i.e. backbone.
2. (informal) A spineless person; a coward.

adj

1. Lacking a backbone; without vertebrae.
   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
2. Cowardly, uncourageous; lacking character.
   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. 2022-11-21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian