Wishy-washy
//ˈwɪʃ.iˌwɑ.ʃi// adj
adj ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Wavering; lacking in commitment, certainty, support, and (often) clarity; namby-pamby.
"Near-synonyms: vacillating, vacillatory"
- 2 Thin or watery.
"Near-synonyms: watered-down, diluted, dilute"
Adjective
- 1 lacking courage or vitality wordnet
Example
More examples"This guy is really wishy-washy. He couldn't make a decision to save his life."
Etymology
Reduplication of washy; more at Wikipedia under ablaut reduplication. The wish portion of the term is explained much more by the ablaut reduplication than by any coincidental semantic appropriateness (such as that wishy-washy people wish that they could have it both ways), although the latter effect may play some nonzero cognitive role in word-finding. Compare also swish, swash, splish, and splash regarding any possible sound symbolism.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.