1
as in bland
lacking in qualities that make for spirit and character
she's such a namby-pamby nothing that it's no wonder she's never asked out
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in weak
lacking strength of will or character
mocked namby-pamby intellectuals who endlessly debate the pros and cons of everything and invariably end up accomplishing nothing
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in coward
a person without strength of character
those namby-pambies at city hall are never going to get serious about our crime problem
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Recent Examples of namby-pamby
John B. Judis, The New Republic, 19 Mar. 2023
Adjective
Walzer’s dissent was namby-pamby.
—John B. Judis, The New Republic, 19 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for namby-pamby
Adjective
-
The Flaws has a touch of Severance with its bland office setting and humor overlayed with symbolism but Reiber preferred to cite older influences.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
9 June 2026
-
Has Cannes gone soft or have the movies become bland?—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
4 June 2026
Adjective
-
But his father contracted pneumonia in 2011, and after two decades in prison, his body was too weak to fight it.—
Yumi Asada,
CNN Money,
13 June 2026
-
That gap is where signal blindness, misalignment, bottlenecks, execution delays and weak learning loops quietly convert external change into our fragilities.—
Christopher Washington,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2026
Noun
-
Severance star Zach Cherry is Gary, a coward who isn’t sure he can be loved.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
1 June 2026
-
And, in a way, this coward is the only sane one.—
Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
Swapping any boring sweater with this one will instantly upgrade your travel wardrobe (without much effort at all).—
Julia Morlino,
Travel + Leisure,
11 June 2026
-
He was meant to only be the stick-in-the-mud boring guy.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
11 June 2026
Adjective
-
As the limestone’s natural acids slowly leach into the softer sandstone, the structure will erode over time.—
Emily Watlington,
ARTnews.com,
12 June 2026
-
Take inspiration from Love Story’s Sarah Pidgeon and ask your hairdresser for soft, invisible layers, which create the illusion of a blunt cut while still adding movement and texture around the cheek, jaw, and collarbones.—
Ranyechi Udemezue,
Vogue,
12 June 2026
Noun
-
And this name sounds like a wimp to me.—
Kathleen Perricone,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 May 2026
-
What unites these movements is a shared contempt for the moderate, who is dismissed as cowardly, unprincipled, or insincere: wimps who inexplicably hate winning.—
Nikhil Krishnan,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Faced with insipid economic growth, politicians have not taken the action necessary to spark a resurgence, such as capital and digital markets reform, lower levels of regulation and lower business taxes.—
Kamal Ahmed,
Fortune,
21 May 2026
-
More boos followed after the final whistle with Slot’s side serving up another insipid home performance.—
James Pearce,
New York Times,
9 May 2026
Adjective
-
Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, particularly in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.—
Angelique Brenes,
PEOPLE,
5 June 2026
-
While most healthy people can recover in four to seven days without treatment, some vulnerable people, such as children under 5, adults 65 and older and those with weakened immune systems, may experience more severe illness that requires medical treatment or hospitalization.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
USA Today,
2 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Namby-pamby.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/namby-pamby. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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