namby-pamby

namby-pamby

1. Overly sentimental, maudlin, or effeminate. Said almost exclusively of a man. You say you don't want some aggressive alpha male, but then you dismiss more sensitive, intellectual guys as being too namby-pamby—make up your mind! My father always looked down on the guys I dated in college as "namby-pamby boys" because they were usually pretty soft-spoken and didn't play any sports.
2. Weak, ineffectual, or spineless; lacking determination, vigor, and decisiveness. His election to office has lauded by his supporters as a rejection of the namby-pamby politics of his predecessor. We can't be namby-pamby about how to operate the business—if we're going to survive, we have to make tough choices right away.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

namby-pamby

(ˈnæmbiˈpæmbi)
mod. overly nice; effeminate and weak, when said of a male. Fred is too namby-pamby when it comes to making up his mind.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • soupy
  • pantywaist
  • nancy
  • quiche
  • quiche-eater
  • beta male
  • queen
  • Queens
  • slush
  • a big girl's blouse
References in periodicals archive
We are past caring about the lukewarm and namby-pamby equivocating of the DNC.
Thanks, Molly
But for some reason, portraying Jesus as a namby-pamby frat-boy-guru is fine."
Closing The Book of Daniel
In rugby, the wizards of Oz looked more like a bunch of namby-pamby circus clowns as they trailed in last in the Tri-Nations series.
Aussies gone soft
In This Present Darkness, Satan's minions set up shop in the psychology department of the local liberal arts college; the New Age cult is led by a professor who preys on intellectually curious students and by the minister of a namby-pamby Protestant church who preaches moral relativism.
Jesus Christ, Superstar: when Hollywood stopped making Bible movies, right-wing Christians took over
"It's not much of a secret that we have a general disdain for namby-pamby beers."
Stone Brewing Co. expands to Colorado
OLD skool rockers Anthrax easily showed up namby-pamby nu-metal bands like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit for the impostors they really are.
Wiped out by Anthrax attack
But for early-'80s Hollywood, this melodrama about a married man leaving his wife for another man was quite bold, even if it plays namby-pamby today.
ONE KISS LEADS ... TO ANOTHER
This is no namby-pamby performance, but one with a clear and assertive vision of pastoral life.
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6 "Pastoral." Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra. EMI CDM 7243-5-66792-2
His adulatory verses ("Dimpley damsel, sweetly smiling") won Philips the nickname "Namby-Pamby." He also wrote The Distressed Mother (1712), an adaptation of Jean Racine's play Andromaque.
Philips, Ambrose
Democrats were the namby-pamby, goo-goo eggheads who thought hardened criminals could become good citizens with plenty of Prozac, hugs, and herb tea.
Crime time
The only thing the New Museum challenges is our already thinly worn patience with their namby-pamby response, otherwise known as "death by committee," whenever they manage to get too close to issues that count.
Bad girl blues
IT seems that even politicians are not allowed to describe illegal immigrants as a 'swarm' (David Cameron) or a 'marauding mob' (Phillip Hammond) without the hairy-fairy, namby-pamby, liberal do-gooders objecting to these statements.
I tell it how it is; FEEDBACK
"I think they come back again later but 50s they all seem to be namby-pamby, they don't seem interesting enough.
Amanda: TV bosses think women my age are dull
And there are no namby-pamby bite-sized canapes on his menu, even his starters are huge - the crispy potato skins loaded with cheese and bacon are so big they might not fit into your hand.
CHOICE
Jones'll do well excusing that type of namby-pamby behaviour next time he's down his local in Neath.
PICK OF THE DAY; Jones will feel the heat in Hong Kong