1
as in bland
lacking in qualities that make for spirit and character
she's such a namby-pamby nothing that it's no wonder she's never asked out
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in weak
lacking strength of will or character
mocked namby-pamby intellectuals who endlessly debate the pros and cons of everything and invariably end up accomplishing nothing
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as in coward
a person without strength of character
those namby-pambies at city hall are never going to get serious about our crime problem
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Recent Examples of namby-pamby
John B. Judis, The New Republic, 19 Mar. 2023
Adjective
Walzer’s dissent was namby-pamby.
—John B. Judis, The New Republic, 19 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for namby-pamby
Adjective
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The answer is quite simple but hardly not satisfying: His players are bland.Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 11 Dec. 2024
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My only real complaint is that, apart from the weapons, the mecha looked like they were designed by a committee and were a bit bland.Ollie Barder, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Scene-to-scene continuity is typically weak and telling.Lance Eliot, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2024
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Capasa noted that a negative third quarter impacted by weak internal demand, the slowdown of purchases from Chinese customers and overall geopolitical instability kept worsening the cautious scenario already registered in the first half of the year.Sandra Salibian, WWD, 11 Dec. 2024
Noun
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William quickly places Ian under arrest for assaulting an officer, as Rachel calls him a coward.Lincee Ray, EW.com, 14 Dec. 2024
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The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) Bob Hope didn’t so much play characters as variations on the Bob Hope persona, a wisecracking coward with a tendency to get in way over his head then make matters worse for himself.Keith Phipps, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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But to play to that dichotomy is a tightrope walk: lean too far one way and Indy becomes boring, either as too normal or a superhero.Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2024
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Eggnog Eggnog is a hard sell because most people have only had the bad kind, those boring and occasionally gross cartons that line the dairy section of the supermarket every December.Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 9 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The ones that come to mind for us are easily Beyond Yoga’s super soft, smooth Spacedye tights.Sara Coughlin, SELF, 10 Dec. 2024
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This expands their volume, destroying cells and making their texture soft.Heather Jones, Verywell Health, 10 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The hard labor of making Wabanaki baskets Wabanaki basket-making isn’t for wimps.Debra Utacia Krol, USA TODAY, 29 Nov. 2024
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Compared to 88-year-old percussion master Pete Escovedo, Keith Sweat, John Michael Montgomery, Frankie Beverly and the members of the Eagles and Aventura seem like, well, wimps.George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Apr. 2024
Adjective
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At the far extreme, there is the insipid libertarianism of Ron Paul, the former Texas representative, who has claimed that Marine detachments guarding U.S. embassies count as examples of military overstretch.Bret Stephens, Foreign Affairs, 5 Feb. 2013
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The blandly positive lyrics seemed even more insipid amid all the bedroom jams.Eric Webb, Austin American-Statesman, 1 June 2024
Noun
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What cinches this daring perspective is actor Andrew Scott’s phenomenal characterization as a weakling who grapples with gradual self-awareness.Armond White, National Review, 29 Dec. 2023
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But in a call with Mr. Licht after the meeting, Mr. Zaslav belittled Mr. Zucker as a weakling who had tears in his eyes, several people with knowledge of the conversation said.Benjamin Mullin, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2023
Thesaurus Entries Near namby-pamby
Cite this Entry
“Namby-pamby.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/namby-pamby. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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