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Synonyms

milk-and-water

American  
[milk-uhn-waw-ter, -wot-er] / ˈmɪlk ənˈwɔ tər, -ˈwɒt ər /

adjective

  1. ineffective; wishy-washy; lacking will or strength.


milk-and-water British  

adjective

  1. (milk and water when postpositive) weak, feeble, or insipid

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Usually these voluntaries were real milk-and-water affairs," he recalled, "but one day the organist did something really wild, which was thrilling.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 5, 2012

Paraphrasers suggested that Sir Austen meant, "A League which used raw, un-mellowed, strong-arm methods and thus antagonized its Member States would diadem sight quicker than will the present milk-and-water League."

From Time Magazine Archive

Anyway it seems to me more accurate about motherhood than the old bloodless milk-and-water Virgins of art history.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

It was served in a quantity sufficient for the workmen only, as one may readily infer from a description written elsewhere of the milk-and-water "refreshing drink."

From The Gold Diggings of Cape Horn A Study of Life in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia by John R. Spears

This platform was of the milk-and-water variety, appealing too weakly to the friends and opponents of slavery to develop great strength.

From The Greater Republic A History of the United States by Charles Morris

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