mimsy
Britishadjective
Etymology
Origin of mimsy
C19: a blend of miserable and flimsy , coined by Lewis Carroll
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.
"It is not little kitchens and pots boiling away, mimsy little things being placed on plates. He is cooking with fire... he stands there in his leather apron and it's roaring like fireworks," Coren said.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Jack and Alice and other juvenilia Charlotte Brontë did not like Jane Austen because she thought she was mimsy, with a fenced-in imagination.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 15, 2017
For those of a delicate constitution, stick with the rustic cafes and mimsy cupcake shops outside which various characters had "moments" with each other because they couldn't afford to go inside.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 13, 2013
Result is that while many a critic thinks that all three Sitwells are as mimsy as borogoves, with a highly refined flair for publicity, few critics think it out loud.
From Time Magazine Archive
This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeated the first verse: 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.
From Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
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.
