Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Affectedly delicate or refined; mincing.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective affectedly dainty or refined
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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And, in case you think I am sounding too niminy-piminy here, a third tucking into his 'Double Bubble, two slice and a cup a tea please love' while enjoying the special delights of The Sun.
A man and his newspaper are never parted Ms Robinson 2007
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I don't think we need have any niminy-piminy fancies against that.
Time and Again Finney, Jack 1995
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These fashion-plates of fifty years ago are designed by very different hands from those which produce our niminy-piminy looking things, -- by artists plainly; and your peasant-girl was seized upon by some errant knight of palette and brush, and painted for her beauty.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 24, October, 1859 Various
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Inside were many fine pictures, not in the niminy-piminy manner, but strong, full-coloured, and just.
The Path to Rome Hilaire Belloc 1911
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The girl, poor thing, was in her normal state, a niminy-piminy, affected milliner, and nothing more, only seeming very much overcome by being in company with so many fine people.
Selections from the Letters of Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury to Jane Welsh Carlyle 1892
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You're a brave lass for all your niminy-piminy lingo.
The Refugees Arthur Conan Doyle 1894
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'Humph!' said Malevola, 'your precious daughter will have beauty and grace and all the rest of the tuppenny halfpenny rubbish those niminy-piminy minxes have given her.
The Magic World Gerald Spencer Pryse 1891
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Wheer would th 'owd country be if 'twere left to pulin' booky clerks what thinks they're gemmen, an 'what weds niminy-piminy shop gels, an' breeds nowt but ricketty babes fit for workus 'burial!
The Treasure of Heaven A Romance of Riches Marie Corelli 1889
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The church here is tough and coarse, and full of grit, like a grindstone; and it does ministers from other more niminy-piminy places all sorts of good to come here once in a while and rub themselves up against it.
The Damnation of Theron Ware Harold Frederic 1877
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So we'll all have to walk just niminy-piminy till then.
Dorothy's Travels Evelyn Raymond 1876
chained_bear commented on the word niminy-piminy
"'I utterly refuse to have that niminy-piminy blackguard on my quarterdeck,' said Jack. 'The port-admiral be damned.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 73
February 20, 2008
cricket commented on the word niminy-piminy
I think it's safe to say that almost no on here on Wordie fits the definition up there.
March 5, 2008
sionnach commented on the word niminy-piminy
Do namby-pamby and niminy-piminy represent different grades of affected daintiness, or are they exact synonyms?
March 5, 2008
reesetee commented on the word niminy-piminy
*stomping onto the page* Hey! Who says we're not dainty??
March 5, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word niminy-piminy
I call for different grades of affected daintiness. Why else could you pair niminy-piminy with blackguard?
March 6, 2008
reesetee commented on the word niminy-piminy
Yes! The port-admiral be damned.
March 6, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word niminy-piminy
I'm going to use that phrase daily. The port-admiral be damned.
March 6, 2008
ofravens commented on the word niminy-piminy
Aw, this word makes me happy because it reminds me so much of the opening of Little Women:
"I detest rude, unladylike girls!"
"I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!"
April 13, 2008
yarb commented on the word niminy-piminy
"The church here is tough and coarse, and full of grit, like a grindstone; and it does ministers from other more niminy-piminy places all sorts of good to come here once in a while and rub themselves up against it."
- Harold Frederic, The Damnation of Theron Ware, ch. 17
August 2, 2008