wishy-washy

[wish-ee-wosh-ee, -waw-shee]

See more synonyms for wishy-washy on Thesaurus.com

adjective

lacking in decisiveness; without strength or character; irresolute.
washy or watery, as a liquid; thin and weak.

Origin of wishy-washy

First recorded in 1685–95; gradational compound based on washy

Related formswish·y-wash·i·ly, adverbwish·y-wash·i·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for wishy-washy

indecisive, banal, cowardly, enervated, feeble, flat, flavorless, ineffective, ineffectual, insipid, irresolute, jejune, languid, listless, mediocre, namby-pamby, spiritless, tasteless, thin, vacillating

Examples from the Web for wishy-washy

Contemporary Examples of wishy-washy

But his Republican party in Washington considers this conservative too wishy-washy to be prime GOP material.
Nevada Guv Faces Fans and Foes in Reelection
Lloyd Green
March 18, 2014
Were his wishy-washy answers in the debate merely an attempt to fool the center into voting for an Islamist candidate?
Egyptian Elections: There Is No Clear Frontrunner in a Crowded Field
Mahmoud Salem
May 23, 2012

Historical Examples of wishy-washy

You're not the kind of blonde who'll get wishy-washy or fat.
Gigolo
Edna Ferber
I always held you as a wishy-washy bourgeois and now you go and pull this thing off.
Moral
Ludwig Thoma
You will find nothing negative or wishy-washy in the Great Book.
The Victorious Attitude
Orison Swett Marden
He is like an over-shot mill, one everlastin' wishy-washy stream.'
The Attache
Thomas Chandler Haliburton
Modern paper-hangings are too superficial and wishy-washy for the purpose.
Passages From the English Notebooks, Volume 2
Nathaniel Hawthorne

British Dictionary definitions for wishy-washy

wishy-washy

adjective informal

lacking in substance, force, colour, etc
watery; thin

Derived Formswishy-washily, adverbwishy-washiness, noun

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

Word Origin and History for wishy-washy

adj.

1690s, "feeble or poor in quality," reduplication of washy "thin, watery" (see wash (n.)). Meaning "vacillating" first recorded 1873.