Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A person regarded as weak-willed or timid.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A person who is ineffectual, timid, and often luckless; a person of no significance.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun One who is fearful and
timid , especially in making decisions and plans, in discussions, debates, arguments, and confrontations, and in taking responsibility. - noun slang, mildly pejorative, US A
loser .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (Yiddish) a timid unfortunate simpleton
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The character was described as the nebbish, not so great with the women, really kind of insecure, starting over.
TV Addict Interview: UNHITCHED Star Shaun Majumder | the TV addict 2008
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The name-checking of Woody Allen on the cover of the first issue recalls the nebbish director's maxim that he would never want to join any club that would have him for a member.
CINEFANTAST-GEEK 2006
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The name-checking of Woody Allen on the cover of the first issue recalls the nebbish director's maxim that he would never want to join any club that would have him for a member.
Archive 2006-11-19 2006
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(And the nebbish is the one who has to clean it up.)
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Cusack is a very different kind of nebbish, and he avoids the pitfalls of too many actors who think that being in a Woody Allen movie means you have to fully inhabit the Woody persona.
Archive 2008-06-01 Ed Howard 2008
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Cusack is a very different kind of nebbish, and he avoids the pitfalls of too many actors who think that being in a Woody Allen movie means you have to fully inhabit the Woody persona.
Bullets Over Broadway Ed Howard 2008
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I love the word 'nebbish' and celebrate every time it is used.
Will pro-choice activists give any moral weight to the unborn? Ann Althouse 2008
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So like some kind of nebbish-y Nero he decrees, "All this pastrami is going straight to my thighs ...
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The physically awkward but intellectually gifted nebbish was foregrounded in film and television by Woody Allen, Dustin Hoffman, and Richard Dreyfuss, and later by Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, and Larry David.
A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010
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Among the other numerous (at least one per page) lovable wisenheimer remarks is this definition: A nebbish doesn't know he's a nebbish ...
David Finkle: Easy Reader: Howard Jacobson's Novel Takes the Prize David Finkle 2010
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