"milquetoast" meaning in English

See milquetoast in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈmɪlktəʊst/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈmɪlkˌtoʊst/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav Forms: more milquetoast [comparative], most milquetoast [superlative]
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”). Etymology templates: {{!}} |, {{lang|en|Caspar Milquetoast}} Caspar Milquetoast, {{named-after|en|Caspar Milquetoast|wplink=Caspar Milquetoast}} Named after Caspar Milquetoast Head templates: {{en-adj}} milquetoast (comparative more milquetoast, superlative most milquetoast)
  1. (originally US, informal, derogatory) Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness. Tags: derogatory, informal Synonyms: feeble, ineffectual, insipid
    Sense id: en-milquetoast-en-adj-HYJlK8Lh Categories (other): American English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: milktoast

Noun

IPA: /ˈmɪlktəʊst/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈmɪlkˌtoʊst/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav Forms: milquetoasts [plural]
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”). Etymology templates: {{!}} |, {{lang|en|Caspar Milquetoast}} Caspar Milquetoast, {{named-after|en|Caspar Milquetoast|wplink=Caspar Milquetoast}} Named after Caspar Milquetoast Head templates: {{en-noun}} milquetoast (plural milquetoasts)
  1. (originally US, informal, derogatory) A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness. Tags: derogatory, informal Categories (topical): People Synonyms: softy, wimp, wuss, milksop, Milquetoast Derived forms: milquetoasty Translations (person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness): мәмәй (məməy) (Bashkir), hiirulainen (Finnish), hissukka (Finnish), Angsthase [masculine] (German), Hasenfuß [masculine] (German), pavido (Italian), remissivo (Italian), timido (Italian), svekling [masculine] (Norwegian), veiking [masculine] (Norwegian), banana [feminine, masculine] (Portuguese), molenga [feminine, masculine] (Portuguese), mlakonja [masculine] (Serbo-Croatian), tímido retraído (Spanish), לעמעשקע (lemeshke) [masculine] (Yiddish)
    Sense id: en-milquetoast-en-noun-nufgJ8GQ Disambiguation of People: 36 64 Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Bashkir translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Norwegian translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Yiddish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 32 68 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 21 79 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 21 79 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 17 83 Disambiguation of Terms with Bashkir translations: 30 70 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 29 71 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 18 82 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Terms with Norwegian translations: 29 71 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 25 75 Disambiguation of Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations: 25 75 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 13 87 Disambiguation of Terms with Yiddish translations: 30 70
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: milktoast

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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          "ref": "1951 July 29, Donald W[illiam] Nicholson, quoting Joseph W[illiam] Martin Jr., “Extension of Remarks of Donald W. Nicholson of Massachusetts in the House of Representatives”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 82d Congress, First Session: Appendix (United States House of Representatives), volume 97, part 14, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 31 July 1951, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A4814, column 1:",
          "text": "The truth is that we are cursed with a \"milquetoast\" Government operating under \"milquetoast\" policies. Fear has become a national policy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1961, Edward C[hristie] Banfield, “The Mythology of Influence”, in Political Influence, Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press of Glencoe, →OCLC; republished New Brunswick, N.J., London: Transaction Publishers, 2003 (2009 printing), →ISBN, page 302:",
          "text": "If Bach had any guts, he wouldn't take that. He's too much of a Milquetoast guy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, William G. Lycan, “Fiction and Essence”, in Modality and Meaning, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →ISBN, section 4 (The Modal Properties of Fictional Individuals), page 115:",
          "text": "I should have listened to my mother when she told me to stay out of journalism because of idiot milquetoast jerk reporters like you!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Barry Gifford, “The Getaway”, in Out of the Past: Adventures in Film Noir, revised edition, Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, →ISBN, page 68:",
          "text": "[Al] Lettieri turns [Sally] Struthers on and she strokes his big gun and waves it (and her big tits) in his face and flaunts her partiality for the tough thug Lettieri over her milquetoast husband.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, John Rosemond, “Command, Compel, Confirm”, in Mary McNeil, editor, Parenting by the Book: Biblical Wisdom for Raising Your Child, New York, N.Y.: Howard Books, →ISBN, part 3 (Discipline), page 239:",
          "text": "Like that well-meaning mom, parents employ Milquetoast speech whenever they whine, complain, plead, entreat, entice, bribe, and explain themselves persuasively.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Gerard DeGroot, “Meet the New Boss”, in The 60s Unplugged: A Kaleidoscopic History of a Disorderly Decade, London: Macmillan, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Pan Books, 2009, →ISBN, page 393:",
          "text": "Ricky [Nelson] was the perfect commodity: an artist who did not upset milktoast America. He was Elvis [Presley] without grease, without swinging hips.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016, Christopher Kelly, The Pink Bus, Mapple Shade, N.J.: Lethe Press, →ISBN, page 80:",
          "text": "And if Dick Leonard didn't appreciate Patrick's incisive criticism—if it inspired a streak of vindictiveness in his usually milquetoast boss and Dick ended up making his assistant's life miserable?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 February 18, David Ehrlich, “‘Eva’ Review: Not Even Isabelle Huppert Playing an Irritated Prostitute Can Save this Limp Melodrama”, in IndieWire, archived from the original on 2019-04-16:",
          "text": "Moreover, \"Eva\" boasts little style beyond what its biggest star is able to bring to the table. Viewers hoping for more of the milquetoast elegance that [Benoît] Jacquot previously brought to the likes of \"Farewell, My Queen\" and \"Diary of a Chambermaid\" will be disappointed.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
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        "(originally US, informal, derogatory) Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness."
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          "word": "ineffectual"
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          "word": "insipid"
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          "word": "milquetoasty"
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          "ref": "1939 October 21, Alexandra Kropotkin, “To the Ladies”, in Fulton Oursler, editor, Liberty, volume 16, number 42, New York, N.Y.: Liberty Publishing, →OCLC, page 51, column 1:",
          "text": "The Milquetoasts of this world seldom wake up in time to get tough effectively, Mr. [Harold Tucker] Webster fears. [...] Webster considers him a worthy citizen—of the kind that had better begin to show a little more spunk before it is too late.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Muriel Larson, Me and My Pet Peeves, Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, →ISBN, page 79:",
          "text": "The Milquetoasts of this world are the victims of the steamrollers. I used to be numbered among the Milquetoasts and was periodically used or flattened! I came to realize, however, that even though Christians are to be humble and cooperative, they also are accountable to God to use their time wisely, to do what He wants them to do, and to stand up for what is right and biblical.",
          "type": "quote"
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        {
          "ref": "1990, Richard M. Fried, “Two Eras, and Some Victims”, in Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN; paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1991, →ISBN:",
          "text": "That scientists favored international control of the atom made conservatives even more mistrustful. J[ohn] Parnell Thomas rued the surrender of control to such \"a group of milktoasts.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Frank Manchel, “A Representative Period of American Film (1913–1919)”, in Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography, volume 2, Rutherford, Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; London; Toronto, Ont.: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 1400:",
          "text": "Of the thirteen films he [Douglas Fairbanks] made independently, the most noteworthy was WILD AND WOOLLY (1917), a melodramatic story about an Eastern milquetoast who becomes a frontier hero.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Louis Baldwin, “Clare Boothe Luce: Powerful Politician (1903–1987)”, in Women of Strength: Biographies of 106 who have Excelled in Traditional Male Fields, A.D. 61 to the Present, Jefferson, N.C., London: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 42:",
          "text": "[Clare Boothe Luce] was no woman to be married to a milquetoast, and Henry R[obinson] Luce, cofounder and colorful, forceful honcho of the nascent Time empire, was anything but that.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Elizabeth A. Ford, Deborah C. Mitchell, “The Ladder of Class”, in The Makeover in Movies: Before and After in Hollywood Films, 1941–2002, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 91:",
          "text": "Initially, our heroine hooks up with some milktoast of a guy with lots of money and little personality. Then he comes along—a man she can't push over, a man her wealth and social position can't influence.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness."
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        "(originally US, informal, derogatory) A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "softy"
        },
        {
          "word": "wimp"
        },
        {
          "word": "wuss"
        },
        {
          "word": "milksop"
        },
        {
          "word": "Milquetoast"
        }
      ],
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          "code": "ba",
          "lang": "Bashkir",
          "roman": "məməy",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "word": "мәмәй"
        },
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          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "word": "hiirulainen"
        },
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          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "word": "hissukka"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Angsthase"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Hasenfuß"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "word": "pavido"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "word": "remissivo"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "word": "timido"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "svekling"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "veiking"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "banana"
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          "tags": [
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          "word": "molenga"
        },
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          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "mlakonja"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "word": "tímido retraído"
        },
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          "code": "yi",
          "lang": "Yiddish",
          "roman": "lemeshke",
          "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "לעמעשקע"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "_dis1": "0 0",
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}
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      },
      "expansion": "Named after Caspar Milquetoast",
      "name": "named-after"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more milquetoast",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most milquetoast",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "milquetoast (comparative more milquetoast, superlative most milquetoast)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "milque‧toast"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1951 July 29, Donald W[illiam] Nicholson, quoting Joseph W[illiam] Martin Jr., “Extension of Remarks of Donald W. Nicholson of Massachusetts in the House of Representatives”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 82d Congress, First Session: Appendix (United States House of Representatives), volume 97, part 14, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 31 July 1951, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A4814, column 1:",
          "text": "The truth is that we are cursed with a \"milquetoast\" Government operating under \"milquetoast\" policies. Fear has become a national policy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1961, Edward C[hristie] Banfield, “The Mythology of Influence”, in Political Influence, Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press of Glencoe, →OCLC; republished New Brunswick, N.J., London: Transaction Publishers, 2003 (2009 printing), →ISBN, page 302:",
          "text": "If Bach had any guts, he wouldn't take that. He's too much of a Milquetoast guy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, William G. Lycan, “Fiction and Essence”, in Modality and Meaning, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →ISBN, section 4 (The Modal Properties of Fictional Individuals), page 115:",
          "text": "I should have listened to my mother when she told me to stay out of journalism because of idiot milquetoast jerk reporters like you!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Barry Gifford, “The Getaway”, in Out of the Past: Adventures in Film Noir, revised edition, Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, →ISBN, page 68:",
          "text": "[Al] Lettieri turns [Sally] Struthers on and she strokes his big gun and waves it (and her big tits) in his face and flaunts her partiality for the tough thug Lettieri over her milquetoast husband.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, John Rosemond, “Command, Compel, Confirm”, in Mary McNeil, editor, Parenting by the Book: Biblical Wisdom for Raising Your Child, New York, N.Y.: Howard Books, →ISBN, part 3 (Discipline), page 239:",
          "text": "Like that well-meaning mom, parents employ Milquetoast speech whenever they whine, complain, plead, entreat, entice, bribe, and explain themselves persuasively.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Gerard DeGroot, “Meet the New Boss”, in The 60s Unplugged: A Kaleidoscopic History of a Disorderly Decade, London: Macmillan, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Pan Books, 2009, →ISBN, page 393:",
          "text": "Ricky [Nelson] was the perfect commodity: an artist who did not upset milktoast America. He was Elvis [Presley] without grease, without swinging hips.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016, Christopher Kelly, The Pink Bus, Mapple Shade, N.J.: Lethe Press, →ISBN, page 80:",
          "text": "And if Dick Leonard didn't appreciate Patrick's incisive criticism—if it inspired a streak of vindictiveness in his usually milquetoast boss and Dick ended up making his assistant's life miserable?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 February 18, David Ehrlich, “‘Eva’ Review: Not Even Isabelle Huppert Playing an Irritated Prostitute Can Save this Limp Melodrama”, in IndieWire, archived from the original on 2019-04-16:",
          "text": "Moreover, \"Eva\" boasts little style beyond what its biggest star is able to bring to the table. Viewers hoping for more of the milquetoast elegance that [Benoît] Jacquot previously brought to the likes of \"Farewell, My Queen\" and \"Diary of a Chambermaid\" will be disappointed.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "Meek",
          "meek"
        ],
        [
          "timid",
          "timid"
        ],
        [
          "lacking",
          "lack#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "character",
          "character"
        ],
        [
          "effectiveness",
          "effectiveness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally US, informal, derogatory) Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "feeble"
        },
        {
          "word": "ineffectual"
        },
        {
          "word": "insipid"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈmɪlktəʊst/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b8/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b8/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈmɪlkˌtoʊst/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "milk toast"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "milktoast"
    }
  ],
  "word": "milquetoast"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English eponyms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from fiction",
    "English terms with homophones",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Bashkir translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Norwegian translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Yiddish translations",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "milquetoasty"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "|",
      "name": "!"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Caspar Milquetoast"
      },
      "expansion": "Caspar Milquetoast",
      "name": "lang"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Caspar Milquetoast",
        "wplink": "Caspar Milquetoast"
      },
      "expansion": "Named after Caspar Milquetoast",
      "name": "named-after"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "milquetoasts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "milquetoast (plural milquetoasts)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "milque‧toast"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1939 October 21, Alexandra Kropotkin, “To the Ladies”, in Fulton Oursler, editor, Liberty, volume 16, number 42, New York, N.Y.: Liberty Publishing, →OCLC, page 51, column 1:",
          "text": "The Milquetoasts of this world seldom wake up in time to get tough effectively, Mr. [Harold Tucker] Webster fears. [...] Webster considers him a worthy citizen—of the kind that had better begin to show a little more spunk before it is too late.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Muriel Larson, Me and My Pet Peeves, Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, →ISBN, page 79:",
          "text": "The Milquetoasts of this world are the victims of the steamrollers. I used to be numbered among the Milquetoasts and was periodically used or flattened! I came to realize, however, that even though Christians are to be humble and cooperative, they also are accountable to God to use their time wisely, to do what He wants them to do, and to stand up for what is right and biblical.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Richard M. Fried, “Two Eras, and Some Victims”, in Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN; paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1991, →ISBN:",
          "text": "That scientists favored international control of the atom made conservatives even more mistrustful. J[ohn] Parnell Thomas rued the surrender of control to such \"a group of milktoasts.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Frank Manchel, “A Representative Period of American Film (1913–1919)”, in Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography, volume 2, Rutherford, Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; London; Toronto, Ont.: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 1400:",
          "text": "Of the thirteen films he [Douglas Fairbanks] made independently, the most noteworthy was WILD AND WOOLLY (1917), a melodramatic story about an Eastern milquetoast who becomes a frontier hero.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996, Louis Baldwin, “Clare Boothe Luce: Powerful Politician (1903–1987)”, in Women of Strength: Biographies of 106 who have Excelled in Traditional Male Fields, A.D. 61 to the Present, Jefferson, N.C., London: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 42:",
          "text": "[Clare Boothe Luce] was no woman to be married to a milquetoast, and Henry R[obinson] Luce, cofounder and colorful, forceful honcho of the nascent Time empire, was anything but that.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Elizabeth A. Ford, Deborah C. Mitchell, “The Ladder of Class”, in The Makeover in Movies: Before and After in Hollywood Films, 1941–2002, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 91:",
          "text": "Initially, our heroine hooks up with some milktoast of a guy with lots of money and little personality. Then he comes along—a man she can't push over, a man her wealth and social position can't influence.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person"
        ],
        [
          "meek",
          "meek"
        ],
        [
          "timid",
          "timid"
        ],
        [
          "disposition",
          "disposition"
        ],
        [
          "lacks",
          "lack#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "character",
          "character"
        ],
        [
          "effectiveness",
          "effectiveness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally US, informal, derogatory) A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "softy"
        },
        {
          "word": "wimp"
        },
        {
          "word": "wuss"
        },
        {
          "word": "milksop"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈmɪlktəʊst/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b8/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b8/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈmɪlkˌtoʊst/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "milk toast"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "milktoast"
    },
    {
      "word": "Milquetoast"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ba",
      "lang": "Bashkir",
      "roman": "məməy",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "word": "мәмәй"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "word": "hiirulainen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "word": "hissukka"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Angsthase"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Hasenfuß"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "word": "pavido"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "word": "remissivo"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "word": "timido"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "svekling"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "veiking"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "banana"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "molenga"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "mlakonja"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "word": "tímido retraído"
    },
    {
      "code": "yi",
      "lang": "Yiddish",
      "roman": "lemeshke",
      "sense": "person of meek or timid disposition; person who lacks character or effectiveness",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "לעמעשקע"
    }
  ],
  "word": "milquetoast"
}

Download raw JSONL data for milquetoast meaning in English (14.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (bb46d54 and 0c3c9f6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.