milquetoast

noun milque·toast \ ˈmilk-ˌtōst \

|Updated on: 18 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: Why is it milquetoast, and not milk toast?

Definition of milquetoast

: a timid, meek, or unassertive person

milquetoast was our Word of the Day on 05/26/2016. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of milquetoast from the Web

People can sometimes mistake Nat’s music as this sweet, idealized milquetoast.

— howard reich, chicagotribune.com, "Gregory Porter taps the music of Nat King Cole," 7 June 2018
The metamorphosis of milquetoast Neil Gorsuch has baffled people who’ve followed him for years.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Romney threads the needle on Trump in Utah Senate debate," 30 May 2018
The metamorphosis of milquetoast Neil Gorsuch has baffled people who’ve followed him for years.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Romney threads the needle on Trump in Utah Senate debate," 30 May 2018
The metamorphosis of milquetoast Neil Gorsuch has baffled people who’ve followed him for years.

— simon van zuylen-wood, Daily Intelligencer, "How Neil Gorsuch Became the Second-Most-Polarizing Man in Washington," 28 May 2018
Make Dolores the uncompromising leader of the burgeoning robot uprising—with actual, permanent stakes for the park and its hosts and guests—and leave the quibbling to milquetoasts like Teddy.

— scott meslow, GQ, "What We Want From Westworld Season 2," 20 Apr. 2018
His milquetoast Light Beer 007 probably won't excite drinkers chasing trendy IPAs, but the ale showcases the broad-strokes flavors of pale malt and bright hops in an approachable way.

— john verive, latimes.com, "Common Space Brewery and tap room opens in Hawthorne with plenty of promising brews," 6 Mar. 2018
In the midst of all this, the NCAA is perceived as a milquetoast organization unwilling to be aggressive with the offenders.

— elton alexander, cleveland.com, "College basketball scandal: NCAA scrambles for answers as FBI probe continues," 28 Feb. 2018
Key players remain maddeningly passive — Gleeson isn’t the most dynamic of actors to begin with, and his Milne is a mumbling milquetoast, moping about with his hands in his pockets, as if work-shopping Eeyore.

— gary thompson, Philly.com, "'Goodbye Christopher Robin': This Winnie the Pooh origin story has too much Eeyore in it for its own good," 19 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'milquetoast.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Why is it milquetoast, and not milk toast?

Caspar Milquetoast was a comic strip character created in 1924 by the American cartoonist Harold T. Webster. The strip, called "The Timid Soul," ran every Sunday in the New York Herald Tribune for many years. Webster, who claimed that Milquetoast was a self-portrait, summed up the character as "the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick." The earliest examples for Milquetoast used as a generic synonym for "timid person" date from the mid-1930s. Caspar's last name might remind you of "milk toast," a bland concoction of buttered toast served in a dish of warm milk.