namby-pamby

adjective

nam·​by-pam·​by ˌnam-bē-ˈpam-bē 

1

: lacking in character or substance : insipid

2

: weak, indecisive

namby-pamby noun

Did you know?

Eighteenth-century poets Alexander Pope and Henry Carey didn't think much of their contemporary Ambrose Philips. His sentimental, singsong verses were too childish and simple for their palates. In 1726, Carey came up with the rhyming nickname Namby-Pamby (playing on Ambrose) to parody Philips: "Namby-Pamby's doubly mild / Once a man and twice a child ... / Now he pumps his little wits / All by little tiny bits." In 1729, Pope borrowed the nickname to take his own satirical jab at Philips in the poem "The Dunciad." Before long, namby-pamby was being applied to any piece of writing that was insipidly precious, simple, or sentimental, and later to anyone considered pathetically weak or indecisive.

Synonyms

• banal
• flat
• insipid
• milk-and-water
• watery
• wishy-washy

Examples of namby-pamby in a Sentence

she's such a namby-pamby nothing that it's no wonder she's never asked out

mocked namby-pamby intellectuals who endlessly debate the pros and cons of everything and invariably end up accomplishing nothing

Recent Examples on the Web

Walzer’s dissent was namby-pamby. —John B. Judis, The New Republic, 19 Mar. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Namby Pamby, nickname given to Ambrose Philips

First Known Use

1745, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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