wimpy
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of wimpy
Explanation
Someone who's wimpy is extremely ineffective, weak, or fearful. You might feel wimpy about declining an invitation to jump on your friend's snowmobile without a helmet, but that's actually a wise decision. This informal adjective is a derogatory way to describe a cowardly or physically frail person. "Don't be such a wimpy kid," your older sister might say, "go ahead and jump off the high dive!" Most experts trace wimpy back to the comic strip character J. Wellington Wimpy. Known simply as Wimpy, he was Popeye's hamburger-loving, soft-spoken, and slightly cowardly sidekick.
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.
Get therapy, even if you once thought it was a little wimpy.
From Slate • Jan. 28, 2024
The color is a deep festive red too — nothing washed out or wimpy — and it sure makes it easier to spot your phone in a dark purse or across the room.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 1, 2023
At first people thought I was being a bit wimpy or that I just wanted the day off school.
From BBC • Oct. 16, 2023
“It ain’t wimpy, that’s for sure,” he said in a 2014 documentary about him.
From New York Times • May 10, 2023
My legs burned, but I had to get even with her somehow, to try and salvage the last day of summer, and the last wimpy shreds of my little-boy ego.
From "Winger" by Andrew Smith
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.
