Spineless means having no courage at all. A spineless response, spineless management, utterly spineless.
It is an insult and a specific one: a spineless person will not stand up when it costs them something, which is a failure of nerve rather than of kindness. The metaphor is the backbone, which stands for resolve in English. Note that spineless also describes animals without a spine, quite literally.
1adjectivespinelessHaving no courage at all.
“The spineless manager blamed his team instead of admitting his own mistake.”
spineless is a quality of cowardice.
Proto-Indo-European
*spey-
Latin
spīna — a thorn; a prickle, spine; the backbone
Old French
espine
Middle English
spyne
English
spine
English, today
spineless
From spine + -less. spine comes from late Middle English spyne, from Old French espine (French épine) or its source, Latin spīna (“a thorn; a prickle, spine; the backbone”). a doublet of spina.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA