simpering

adjective

sim·​per·​ing ˈsim-p(ə-)riŋ 

: marked by insipidity or by affected or ingratiating timidity

simpering behavior

a simpering smile/tone

During job interviews, I always felt like a simpering idiot.

—Nancy Scott Hanway

… spoofy moments featuring a simpering newswoman …

—Pauline Kael

… the indignities of office life, from boorish bosses to simpering middle managers to byzantine bureaucracies.

—Charles Bramesco

simperingly adverb

What a relief to meet a heroine who was not so simperingly, crushingly perfect and pretty as most of the approved Pollyannas we encountered in conventional fiction!

—Michele Landsberg

Examples of simpering in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Crown has become too simpering, and has suffered for that reverence. —Louis Staples, Rolling Stone, 18 Nov. 2023

Word History

Etymology

from present participle of simper entry 1

First Known Use

1553, in the meaning defined above