namby-pamby

adjective more namby-pamby · namby-pambier · most namby-pamby · namby-pambiest · mamby-pamby

1. Insipid and sentimental.
2. Lacking vigor or decisiveness; spineless; wishy-washy. […] she was still, as heretofore, a namby-pamby milk-and-water affected creature […]

noun namby-pambies · mamby-pamby

1. 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])
2. 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.

Similar: namby, nestle-cock, sissy, softy

verb namby-pambies · namby-pambying · namby-pambied · mamby-pamby

1. 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.