milquetoast means meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.
milquetoast is pronounced /ˈmɪlktəʊst/.
Why “milquetoast” is a great word
Meek, timid, and ineffectual; lacking in character or assertiveness. From the name Caspar Milquetoast, a timid comic strip character created by American cartoonist H.T. Webster in 1924; the character's surname is a humorous respelling of the dish 'milk toast'. Unlike 'timid,' which suggests a simple absence of courage, or 'insipid,' which describes a mere lack of flavor, milquetoast evokes a specific, contemptible feebleness of personality. It is the colleague who apologizes for being interrupted while he is still speaking, the dinner guest who agrees with every opinion as his food goes cold, the handshake that seems to dissolve in your grasp—an existence so thoroughly softened by fear of giving offense that it has become offensive in its very softness.
Etymology
Named after Caspar Milquetoast, a character from the comic strip The Timid Soul, created by American cartoonist Harold Tucker Webster (1885–1952) and first published in 1924; the character was named after the American dish milk toast (“a food consisting of toasted bread in warm milk”).
adj
- Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.“The truth is that we are cursed with a "milquetoast" Government operating under "milquetoast" policies. Fear has become a national policy.”
noun
- A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness.“We know that theology must be common to all believers, but again we also know that some enjoy only milquetoast (german milchspeise), while others can eat solid food, and that one and the same truth is apprehended in different ways, for it is not possible to accommodate all these ways to the grasp of all, while not depriving them of the truth itself.”
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