wimpishadj.
/ˈwɪmpɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈwɪmpɪʃ/ slang (originally U.S.).
Characteristic of a ‘wimp’; feeble, ineffectual; snivelling. Frequently of persons.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [adjective]
feeblec1400
colourlessc1425
flagging1540
pithless1555
blanched1570
toothless1592
unpointed1604
unsinewed1604
jejune1615
low-pitched1622
unsinewy?1623
macilent1624
flaccid1647
insinewy1653
unsubstanceda1658
incogent1667
pointless1673
languida1677
enervatea1704
unaccentuated1716
unnervate1725
lank1729
unforcible1754
nerveless1763
weak1771
flabby1793
slip-slop1814
tinkling1822
exsanguinea1834
twittery1840
slipshod1842
under-coloured1870
shaftless1881
thin1890
unaccented1893
wimpish1925
wimp1979
1925 S. Lewis Martin Arrowsmith xxvi. 288 They looked like lunching grocers: brisk featureless young men;..wimpish little men with spectacles, men whose collars did not meet.
1977 Sounds 9 July 30/6 The ever so slightly wimpish ‘Give Me Some Time’.
1978 J. Irving World according to Garp xiii. 255 You call that wimpish asshole and say good-bye.
1982 Mail on Sunday 2 May 13/3 The wimpish young schoolmaster.
1983 Times 28 May Suppl. 1/5 The only motive for reading it may be to swank about it at literary cocktail parties, which is a wet and wimpish reason.
1985 Times 11 Feb. 14/1 The Duke of Edinburgh had adopted a new ‘limp’ handshake... Expecting something flabby and wimpish, the men got royal bonecrushers.
Derivatives
ˈwimpishness n. ineffectual character or behaviour; feebleness.
ΚΠ
1978 Oxf. Times 6 Jan. 13/4 Renaissance: Novella (Warner Bros. K 56422)—It's fashionable to sneer at the ‘wimpishness’ of delicate music like this but..I like it.
1983 Times 9 Mar. 10/1 If Michael Straight is a wimp (weakling or ‘wet’) as some people allege, the wimpishness is not immediately apparent.
1984 Daily Express 17 July 8/1 Now he has raised a coast-to-coast horselaugh by his best ever display of wimpishness. Having sacked the party's incompetent national chairman, he promptly reinstated him in the face of protests.
Draft additions September 2013
ˈwimpishly adv. in a wimpish manner.
ΚΠ
1976 L. Grossman Social Hist. Rock Music iii. 63 An exemplary folk tune which assuaged tepidly liberal consciences by wimpishly protesting a past injustice.
1983 Panama City (Florida) News Herald 23 Sept. 4/4 Too danged prudent for Jesse Helms, who, like many fellow right-wingers, felt that Reagan had behaved wimpishly.
2011 M. Farmer Cold Tea & Tears 103 I was never sure how to broach these sensitive issues and wimpishly avoided any mention of them.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1925