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Martha Washington. I think she's done herself a disservice in history with a little cap, you know? She looks like a namby-pamby little grandmotherly type, but she turned out to be a very strong woman.
Cokie Roberts

Meaning of "namby-pamby" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD NAMBY-PAMBY

A nickname of Ambrose Phillips (died 1749), whose pastoral verse was ridiculed for being insipid.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF NAMBY-PAMBY

namby-pamby  [ˌnæmbɪˈpæmbɪ] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF NAMBY-PAMBY

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Namby-Pamby can act as a noun and an adjective.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES NAMBY-PAMBY MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Definition of namby-pamby in the English dictionary

The first definition of namby-pamby in the dictionary is sentimental or prim in a weak insipid way. Other definition of namby-pamby is clinging, feeble, or spineless. Namby-Pamby is also a person who is namby-pamby.


WORDS THAT RHYME WITH NAMBY-PAMBY


Abercrombie
ˈæbəˌkrɒmbɪ
bilimbi
bɪˈlɪmbɪ
brumby
ˈbrʌmbɪ
combi
ˈkɒmbɪ
Djambi
ˈdʒæmbɪ
Formby
ˈfɔːmbɪ
Jambi
ˈdʒæmbɪ
jumbie
ˈdʒʌmbɪ
jumby
ˈdʒʌmbɪ
NIMBY
ˈnɪmbɪ
Tshombe
ˈtʃɒmbɪ
zimbi
ˈzɪmbɪ
zombi
ˈzɒmbɪ
zombie
ˈzɒmbɪ

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE NAMBY-PAMBY

namas kar
namaste
namaycush
namby-pambies
name
name and shame
name day
name names
name of the game
name part
name the day
name-calling
name-drop
name-dropper

WORDS THAT END LIKE NAMBY-PAMBY

aby
baby
bobby
by
by and by
chubby
comby
crumby
Darby
derby
hobby
hubby
lamby
limby
lobby
nearby
ruby
rugby
thumby
womby

Synonyms and antonyms of namby-pamby in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «NAMBY-PAMBY»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «namby-pamby» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of namby-pamby

Translation of «namby-pamby» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF NAMBY-PAMBY

Find out the translation of namby-pamby to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of namby-pamby from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «namby-pamby» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

娇媚
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

ñoño
570 millions of speakers

English

namby-pamby
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

भावुक
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

سخيف pamby
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

сентиментальный
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

piegas
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

ভাবপ্রবণ
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

gnangnan
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Namby-pamby
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

verweichlicht
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

気弱な
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

지나치게 감상적인
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Namby-pamby
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

kiểu sức
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

namby-pamby
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

नमस्कार-पामबी
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

güzel ama yapmacıklı
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

sdolcinato
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

namby - pamby
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

сентиментальний
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

lacrimogen
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

namby - pamby
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

soet net
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

namby - pamby
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

namby - pamby
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of namby-pamby

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «NAMBY-PAMBY»

The term «namby-pamby» is regularly used and occupies the 90.812 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
58
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «namby-pamby» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of namby-pamby
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «namby-pamby».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «NAMBY-PAMBY» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «namby-pamby» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «namby-pamby» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about namby-pamby

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «NAMBY-PAMBY»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word namby-pamby.
1
Cokie Roberts
Martha Washington. I think she's done herself a disservice in history with a little cap, you know? She looks like a namby-pamby little grandmotherly type, but she turned out to be a very strong woman.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «NAMBY-PAMBY»

Discover the use of namby-pamby in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to namby-pamby and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
No More Namby Pamby
" In a world that wants to feminize our young men, Lynn Sheldon is out to help ignite a passion for Christ in the hearts and minds of young men. Men, who have read this book, write how they never knew what it meat to be a godly man.
Lynn E Sheldon, 2011
2
The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories
Pope delighted in the aptness of the contemptuous pet name and adopted Namby Pamby for the 1733 edition of The Dunciad, his epic poem satirizing the popular authors of the day. The enduring success of The Dunciad did much to ensure ...
‎1991
3
Verse in English from Eighteenth-century Ireland
60 Namby Pamby: or, a PANEGYRIC on the NEW VERSIFICATION address' d to A P .' Naughty pauty Jack-a-Dandy, Stole a Piece of Sugar-Candy From the Grocer's Shoppy-Shop, And away did hoppy-hop. All ye Poets of the Age, All ye ...
Andrew Carpenter, 1998
4
Leadership at the Crossroads
the previous year (1726). An anonymous work published in 1725, entitled Namby pamby; a panegyric on the new versification addressed to A——P——, esq., was thought to be by Scriblerians Swift or Pope, a misconception that continued ...
5
Namby Pamby
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Namby Pamby is a term for affected, weak, and maudlin speech/verse. However, its origins are in Namby Pamby (1725), by Henry Carey.
Jesse Russell, Ronald Cohn, 2012
6
Burlesque plays and poems ...
NAMBY PAMBY: OR, A PANEGYRIC ON THE NEW VERSIfICATION AdDRESSEd TO A P , ESQ. 1 ' Nauty Pauty Jack-a-dandy Stole a piece of sugar- candy From the Grocer's shoppy-shop, And away did hoppy-hop." All ye poets of the age, ...
Henry Morley, 1887
7
Transactions of the American Philological Association
They therefore cald him out of his name, Namby, and, using the contemptuous reduplication seen in niminy-piminy, nipperty- tipperty, etc., Namby-Pamby, which name came to be applied adjectivly to poems childishly pretty. (a) When William ...
American Philological Association, 1892
8
Word Origins...And How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone
Carey seems to be the man to whom we owe the adjective namby-pamby ( weakly sentimental, childishly simple): namby- is Ambrose, with n added (as in Ned∼Ed), and -pamby echos namby. Namby-pamby surfaced in 1726; its authorship is ...
Anatoly Liberman, 2009
9
Lives of the English Poets: Swift-Lyttelton
1. 378; ante, Anmsou, 44, n5. APPENDIX R (PAGE 324) [In 1729 Carey, the author of Sally in our Alley, published with other poems one entitled Namby Pamby, intended as a parody on Philips's Ode To the Honourable Jlliss Carteret the infant ...
Samuel Johnson, George Birkbeck Norman Hill, Harold Spencer Scott, 1905
10
The Living Age ...
To put it in another way, namby-pamby music usually implies namby-pamby religion; noble music implies pure and noble religion. One warning must be uttered on this subject, because it is so easily misunderstood. Good music, even noble ...
Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell, 1916

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «NAMBY-PAMBY»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term namby-pamby is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Does NAMBY-PAMBY Fit You? -or- Buy a Doormat; Don't Be One!
Ready to STOP Being a Doormat? – contact Janice Taylor, Life and Weight Loss SUCCESS Coach, Hypnotherapist, Author, Artist, Positarian. «Beliefnet, Jul 15»
2
Theodore Bikel on what wisdom he would pass on to the next …
This may sound namby-pamby but it is not. The determination of human beings to be more than simply their earthly bodies or their careers, their ... «Jewish Journal, Jul 15»
3
Courtney Love's Opera, 'Kansas City Choir Boy,' Receives Run of …
I was on tour in Australia, and it was namby-pamby, like House of Blues 2,500-seaters. That's where we're at — literally, the oldies circuit. I'm in ... «Diffuser.fm, Jul 15»
4
Revealed: The 'Blairite' crime policy that never was
... daftly authoritarian on crime and punishment so I submitted a paper in which I suggested we ignore all the namby-pamby liberal nonsense.'. «Spectator.co.uk, Jul 15»
5
Is It Racism To Say 'All Lives Matter'?
Racism in America is much more complicated than the namby-pamby version I learned in my civics classes, and than race narratives from Left ... «The Federalist, Jul 15»
6
Judge Jeanine Goes After Obama on Chattanooga Shootings: 'They …
And I for one am sick and tired of the namby-pamby, make-believe, politically-correct fantasy world that you live in. Here's a tip: We don't live in ... «IJ Review, Jul 15»
7
“Christmas In July” In Absurdityville, USA
“They” couldn't possibly hate us for the Gulf War, when W's namby-pamby father refused to pay America's former ally, Saddam Hussein, for the ... «CounterCurrents.org, Jul 15»
8
Cerys Matthews struggles to make time for exercise since she had …
My maternal grandmother, who was French, and my mother were exceptionally tough women who didn't tolerate any namby-pamby signs of ... «Daily Mail, Jul 15»
9
Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Will the Real Salman Please Stand Up
And no matter how sincerely and strenuously Kabir Khan, the director, tries to remould the essential Salman into a namby-pamby, devout ... «NDTV, Jul 15»
10
Watch: Why Outraged Judge Jeanine Says Obama Knew …
And I for one am sick and tired of the namby-pamby, make-believe, politically correct fantasy world that you live in. Here's a tip: We don't live in ... «Western Journalism, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Namby-Pamby [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/namby-pamby>. Apr 2024 ».
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