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namby-pamby

adj

Etymology

From the poem Namby-Pamby (1726) by Henry Carey, a satire on the sentimental pastorals of the poet Ambrose Phillips.

Definitions

  1. Insipid and sentimental.

  2. Lacking vigor or decisiveness

    Lacking vigor or decisiveness; spineless; wishy-washy.

    • […] she was still, as heretofore, a namby-pamby milk-and-water affected creature […]

  3. One who is insipid, sentimental, or weak.

    • Namby Pamby’s doubly Mild, Once a Man, and twice a Child; To his Hanging-Sleeves restor’d Now he foots it like a Lord; Now he Pumps his little Wits; Sh—ing Writes and Writing Sh—s,^([sic])
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Talk or writing which is weakly sentimental or affectedly pretty.

      • Another of Addison’s favourite companions was Ambrose Phillipps, a good Whig and a middling poet, who had the honour of bringing into fashion a species of composition which has been called, after his name, Namby-Pamby.

    2. To coddle.

      • While we business men of Britain have little time for this sort of namby-pambying towards the next generation, who are often feckless, tearful, small, dirty or all of the above, there is no doubt that youths have their place in commerce.

The neighborhood

Derived

namby, pamby, namby-pambiness, namby-pambyism, namby-pambical

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA