Namby-pamby
adj, noun, verb ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 One who is insipid, sentimental, or weak.
"Namby Pamby’s doubly Mild, Once a Man, and twice a Child; To his Hanging-Sleeves restor’d Now he foots it like a Lord; Now he Pumps his little Wits; Sh—ing Writes and Writing Sh—s,^([sic])"
- 2 an insipid weakling who is foolishly sentimental wordnet
- 3 Talk or writing which is weakly sentimental or affectedly pretty.
"Another of Addison’s favourite companions was Ambrose Phillipps, a good Whig and a middling poet, who had the honour of bringing into fashion a species of composition which has been called, after his name, Namby-Pamby."
- 1 To coddle.
"While we business men of Britain have little time for this sort of namby-pambying towards the next generation, who are often feckless, tearful, small, dirty or all of the above, there is no doubt that youths have their place in commerce."
- 1 Insipid and sentimental.
- 2 Lacking vigor or decisiveness; spineless; wishy-washy.
"[…] she was still, as heretofore, a namby-pamby milk-and-water affected creature […]"
- 1 lacking courage or vitality wordnet
Example
More examples"He’s ten years old now and should be able to take care of himself. If you coddle him too much, he’ll be a namby-pamby baby instead of a live boy."
Etymology
From the poem Namby-Pamby (1726) by Henry Carey, a satire on the sentimental pastorals of the poet Ambrose Phillips.
Related phrases
More for "namby-pamby"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.