milquetoast
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of milquetoast
1935–40, after Caspar Milquetoast, a character in The Timid Soul, comic strip by H. T. Webster (1885–1952), American cartoonist
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.
The 85-year-old label, tagged by the Observer as once being “synonymous with a particularly milquetoast suburban sensibility,” today posts fast-growing sales among famously fickle Gen Z shoppers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2026
When longtime announcer Don Pardo asks Kroeger’s milquetoast contender, “When is the next reappearance of Halley’s Comet scheduled?” a buzzer instantly cuts him off.
From Salon • Feb. 22, 2026
The film around her is itself built on a fault line of contradictions — it’s at once tepid and sledgehammer-insistent, a slab of decadent milquetoast.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2024
Sen. Maria Cantwell, had a similarly milquetoast response to the verdict, reciting it as a faraway thing that had just happened.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 2, 2024
In the long run, though, this New York prosecution may be remembered as little more than a milquetoast appetizer ahead of potential federal charges.
From Slate • Apr. 8, 2023
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
