namby-pamby

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
That is why the whites of Australia have taken steps towards - as a way of showing both our superior moral nature and that it is ONLY by our grace (and not by some namby-pamby devotion to

View all »
Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Insipid and sentimental.
  2. adjective Lacking vigor or decisiveness; spineless.
  3. noun One that is insipid, sentimental, or weak.
1 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 117 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. After Namby-Pamby, a satire on the poetry of Ambrose Philips (1674-1749) by Henry Carey (1687?-1743).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. A varied diminutive reduplication of Ambrose, in allusion to Ambrose Philips (died 1749), a sentimental poet whose style was ridiculed by Carey and Pope: see quotations.
  2. from namby-pamby, n.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈnæmbɪˈpæmbi/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

We are still working on calculating this word's frequency.

Recently looked up

vodka · OPINION · blotto · realme · Harvey

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Glockenspiel · Ersatz · Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid · Haifischschwanzflossenfleischsuppe · Der Kottbusser Postkutscher putzt den Kottbusser Postkutschkasten