namby-pambical

From namby-pamby +‎ -ical.

namby-pambical (comparative more namby-pambical, superlative most namby-pambical)

1. (rare) Like or resembling a namby-pamby; lacking vigor or decisiveness, wishy-washy.
   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, →ISBN:

     “Of course, – I am being far too nice, aye and no doubt namby-pambical as well, – ha ha, ha, – after all, what’s being confin’d upon the Summit of a living Volcanoe whose History includes violent Explosion, hey? […] ”

2. (uncommon, archaic) Having a namby-pamby character; insipid, sentimental, or weak.
   • 1831, John Wesley, edited by John Emory, The Works of the Reverend John Wesley, A. M.‎, Letter to Charles Wesley, December 26, 1761, →OCLC, page 663:

     Pray tell R. Sheen, I am hugely displeased at his reprinting the Nativity Hymns, and omitting the very best hymn in the collection—All glory to God in the sky, &c. I beg they may never more be printed without it. Omit one or two and I will thank you. They are namby-pambical. I wish you would give us two or three invitatory hymns.

   • 1848, “The New Hymn Book”, in The Quarterly Review of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South‎, volume II, page 104:

     The 4th stanza is rather namby-pambical; the sentiment is much better expressed in the 5th.

• “namby-pambical”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Robert Beard (2007 November 16) “namby-pamby”, in Alpha Dictionary.com