— namby-pambiness, namby-pambyism , n. — namby-pambyish , adj.
/nam"bee pam"bee/ , adj., n., pl. namby-pambies for 4.
adj.
1. without firm methods or policy; weak or indecisive: namby-pamby handling of juvenile offenders.
2. lacking in character, directness, or moral or emotional strength: namby-pamby writing.
3. weakly sentimental, pretentious, or affected; insipid.
n.
4. a namby-pamby person: written by and for namby-pambies.
5. namby-pamby sentiment: the harmless namby-pamby of a birthday card.
6. namby-pamby verse or prose.
[ 1726; rhyming compound based on the first syll. of Ambrose Philips; first used as a nickname for Philips in the title of a poem by Henry Carey (1687?-1743) ridiculing his verse ]