namby-pamby
without firm methods or policy; weak or indecisive: namby-pamby handling of juvenile offenders.
lacking in character, directness, or moral or emotional strength: namby-pamby writing.
weakly sentimental, pretentious, or affected; insipid.
a namby-pamby person: written by and for namby-pambies.
namby-pamby sentiment: the harmless namby-pamby of a birthday card.
namby-pamby verse or prose.
Origin of namby-pamby
1Other words from namby-pamby
- nam·by-pam·bi·ness, nam·by-pam·by·ism, noun
- nam·by-pam·by·ish, adjective
Words Nearby namby-pamby
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use namby-pamby in a sentence
Boring teams, lousy quarterbacks, and namby-pamby rules are making the National Football League unwatchable.
Buzz Bissinger on the NFL’s No Good, Very Bad Season | Buzz Bissinger | January 2, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTWhy did you make us walk in front, namby-pamby so, Papa dear?
Dorothy's Travels | Evelyn RaymondWas this the cousin whom she had considered a sort of namby-pamby, goody-goody girl who would be easily controlled?
Friendship and Folly | Maria Louise PoolNeither Boers or natives understand our namby-pamby way of playing at government; they put it down to fear.
The Last Boer War | H. Rider HaggardGet out o my way, the pair o you, and let me blow out o this namby-pamby, Sunday-school dump!
Cursed | George Allan England
Its composition is in the namby-pamby taste of Pleyels time, and will never suit the taste of the present day.
Louis Spohr's Autobiography | Louis Spohr
British Dictionary definitions for namby-pamby
/ (ˌnæmbɪˈpæmbɪ) /
sentimental or prim in a weak insipid way: namby-pamby manners
clinging, feeble, or spineless: a namby-pamby child
a person who is namby-pamby
Origin of namby-pamby
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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