invertebrate

in- +‎ vertebrate

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvəːtɪbrət/

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invertebrate (plural invertebrates)

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

• vertebrate

invertebrate (not comparable)

1. Lacking a backbone; without vertebrae.
   • 1860, Recreative Science, page 110:

     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?

2. Cowardly, uncourageous; lacking character.

   Synonym: spineless

   • 2022 November 21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian‎:

     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.

• vertebrate, vertebrated

• inveterate (not to be confused)

invertebrate

1. feminine plural of invertebrato