wimp

[ wimp ]
See synonyms for wimp on Thesaurus.com
nounInformal.
  1. a weak, ineffectual, timid person.

Verb Phrases
  1. wimp out, Informal.

    • to be or act like a wimp.

    • to show timidity or cowardice; chicken out.

Origin of wimp

1
An Americanism dating back to 1915–20; origin uncertain; cf. whimper

Words Nearby wimp

Other definitions for WIMP (2 of 2)

WIMP
[ wimp ]

noun
  1. any of a group of weakly interacting elementary particles predicted by various unified field theories, as the W particle and Z-zero particle, that are characterized by relatively large masses.

Origin of WIMP

2
1985–90; W(eakly)I(nteracting)M(assive)P(article)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wimp in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for wimp (1 of 2)

wimp

/ (wɪmp) /


noun
  1. informal a feeble ineffective person: See also wimp out

Origin of wimp

1
C20: of unknown origin

Derived forms of wimp

  • wimpish or wimpy, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for WIMP (2 of 2)

WIMP

/ (wɪmp) /


acronym for
  1. windows, icons, menus (or mice), pointers: denoting a type of user-friendly screen display used on small computers: a WIMP system

  2. physics weakly interacting massive particle

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

Scientific definitions for WIMP

WIMP

[ wĭmp ]


  1. Short for weakly interacting massive particle. Any of various hypothetical particles, some predicted by certain theories such as supersymmetry, which interact with other particles by the force of gravity alone. WIMPs are considered by some scientists to be candidates for the dark matter that makes up much of the mass of the universe.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.