only a ninny would try to cross a swollen, raging river
was such a ninny that he kept forgetting my name, even though I was wearing a name tag
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Jane Austen wrote takedowns of this kind of ninny two centuries ago — how fun to see Pike update her twit to the post-Y2K era.—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024 Kopas, who wisely eschews hamming, makes Frank a spry, eloquent presence, although more dourness in the play’s initial scenes might help his character stand out from the salon’s cheerful ninnies.—Celia Wren, Washington Post, 4 May 2023 Sure enough, the team at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, an organization that provides food to more than 700 pantries throughout the Chicago area, contacted me and said a conservative donor who thinks me quite the ninny had donated $10,000.—Rex Huppke, chicagotribune.com, 16 Dec. 2021 Because some ninny has not read the user manual.—Sarah Barker, Outside Online, 19 Mar. 2021 This part of a snow bath is: Yas ninny' bee táádigis bil ádi didiilchil dóó ádaah nidinííldah, or rub your face and body with snow and dust it off.—Kiliii Yüyan, Travel + Leisure, 26 Nov. 2020 This Macbeth is something of a ninny, a lightweight who lounges on a throne that seems far too big for him.—Kyle Smith, National Review, 2 Nov. 2019 But the story goes that mall proponents had to overcome three tremendous obstacles: the Great Depression, World War II, and the city’s anti-growth ninnies.—oregonlive.com, 1 Aug. 2019
Word History
Etymology
perhaps by shortening & alteration from an innocent
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