namby-pamby

American  

[nam-bee-pam-bee] / ˈnæm biˈpæm bi /

adjective

1. without firm methods or policy; weak or indecisive.

   namby-pamby handling of juvenile offenders.

2. lacking in character, directness, or moral or emotional strength.

   namby-pamby writing.

3. weakly sentimental, pretentious, or affected; insipid.

---

noun

plural

namby-pambies

1. a namby-pamby person.

   written by and for namby-pambies.

2. namby-pamby sentiment.

   the harmless namby-pamby of a birthday card.

3. namby-pamby verse or prose.

namby-pamby British  

/ ˌnæmbɪˈpæmbɪ /

adjective

1. sentimental or prim in a weak insipid way

   namby-pamby manners

2. clinging, feeble, or spineless

   a namby-pamby child

---

noun

1. a person who is namby-pamby

Other Word Forms

• namby-pambiness noun
• namby-pambyish adjective
• namby-pambyism noun

Etymology

Origin of namby-pamby

First recorded in 1726; rhyming compound based on the first syllable of Ambrose Philips; first used as a nickname for Philips in the title of a poem by Henry Carey (1687?–1743) ridiculing his verse

Example Sentences

She gives every impression she might regard that nickname as a bit wishy-washy, a bit namby-pamby.

From BBC

The tackle was brilliant and set the tone for a proper game of football and not this namby-pamby interpretation of what modernists think the game should be.

From BBC

One that emphasizes the physical over namby-pamby paper-pushing, and speaks to old stereotypes of virility, strength and machismo.

From New York Times

His clothes, which thumb their nose at irony in favor of the blandly glamorous, have always been a little too namby-pamby Hollywood for the Wes Anderson affinity set.

From New York Times

You don’t do infrared reconnaissance and maintain a civilian arsenal in some namby-pamby tree house.

From Literature