Word of the Day

: December 11, 2009

namby-pamby

adjective nam-bee-PAM-bee

What It Means

1 : lacking in character or substance : insipid

2 : weak, indecisive

namby-pamby in Context

The candidate criticized her opponent during the debate, calling him a namby-pamby flip-flopper who could not stand up for what he believed in.

Did You Know?

Eighteenth-century poets Alexander Pope and Henry Carey didn't think much of their contemporary Ambrose Philips. His sentimental, singsong verses were too childish and simple for their palates. In 1726, Carey came up with the rhyming nickname "Namby-Pamby" (playing on "Ambrose") to parody Philips: "Namby-Pamby's doubly mild / Once a man and twice a child . . . / Now he pumps his little wits / All by little tiny bits." In 1733, Pope borrowed the nickname to take his own satirical jab at Philips in the poem "The Dunciad." Before long, "namby-pamby" was being applied to any piece of writing that was insipidly precious, simple, or sentimental, and later to anyone considered pathetically weak or indecisive.