Refine this word faster
Namby-pamby
Definitions
- 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
- 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."
Etymology
From the poem Namby-Pamby (1726) by Henry Carey, a satire on the sentimental pastorals of the poet Ambrose Phillips.
From the poem Namby-Pamby (1726) by Henry Carey, a satire on the sentimental pastorals of the poet Ambrose Phillips.
From the poem Namby-Pamby (1726) by Henry Carey, a satire on the sentimental pastorals of the poet Ambrose Phillips.
See also for "namby-pamby"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: nambypamby