Dictionary

namby-pambiness en · NOUN

Etymology

From namby-pamby + -ness.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The quality of being namby-pamby.
   • Many men boastfully spurn the useful but humble rubbers. To wear them seems to argue a lost virility; it is a confession of weak namby-pambiness. Yet the burly traffic policeman wears the effeminate or senile rubber without shame as a part of his uniform. 1923 March 25, Bally Fairfield Burton, “The Folly Test of Fashion”, in The New York Times (Magazine section), volume LXXII, number 23,801, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Sep 2025, page 4, column 3:
   • Once the chosen garb of gangsta rappers and undesirable types who weren’t allowed into the Bluewater Shopping Centre, its working class DNA has been repeatedly appropriated by fashionistas, tech billionaires, banker bros, Saturday brunching, Kensington Dads in Abercrombie and even politicians who have collectively softened the hoodie’s hard man reputation to non-threatening namby-pambiness. 2021 October 8, Simon Mills, “What every man over 40 gets wrong about the hoodie”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Oct 2021:
   • Trump has sold himself to the public as the decider, the guy willing to make the tough calls in short order — just the opposite of the lily-livered, namby-pambiness that has infected Washington politicians. 2017 February 14, Chris Cillizza, “If [Donald] Trump is ‘unbelievably decisive,’ why did it take him weeks to fire Michael Flynn?”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2017:

Forms

Synonyms

namby-pambyism