English▸ adjective lacking energy, strength, or courage; feeble, timid, or ineffectual:
I certainly didn't need any affection—namby-pamby nonsense.
▸ noun
(plural namby-pambies)
derogatory a timid, oversensitive, or overly fastidious man or boy: once we were in the cells we became pathetic namby-pambies.
– ORIGIN mid 18th century: fanciful formation based on the given name of Ambrose Philips (died 1749), an English writer whose pastorals were ridiculed by Pope and others.