"nebbish" meaning in English

See nebbish in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈnɛ.bɪʃ/ Forms: nebbishes [plural]
Rhymes: -ɛbɪʃ Etymology: From American Yiddish נעביש (nebish), from נעבעך (nebekh, “poor, unfortunate”). Etymology templates: {{der|en|yi|נעביש}} Yiddish נעביש (nebish), {{m|yi|נעבעך|t=poor, unfortunate}} נעבעך (nebekh, “poor, unfortunate”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} nebbish (plural nebbishes)
  1. One who is fearful and timid, especially in making decisions and plans, in discussions, debates, arguments, and confrontations, and in taking responsibility. Synonyms: nebech, nebesh, nebish [uncommon] Derived forms: nebbish-like, nebbishy
    Sense id: en-nebbish-en-noun-YD9B7Uyw Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for nebbish meaning in English (2.4kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "yi",
        "3": "נעביש"
      },
      "expansion": "Yiddish נעביש (nebish)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "yi",
        "2": "נעבעך",
        "t": "poor, unfortunate"
      },
      "expansion": "נעבעך (nebekh, “poor, unfortunate”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From American Yiddish נעביש (nebish), from נעבעך (nebekh, “poor, unfortunate”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nebbishes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nebbish (plural nebbishes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "nebbish-like"
        },
        {
          "word": "nebbishy"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Actor Rick Moranis often plays a nebbish.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Foster Hirsh, quoting Woody Allen, Love, Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life: The Films of Woody Allen",
          "text": "“I don't consider myself a nebbish,” Woody told interviewers early in his career, “but everyone else does.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 March 1, Steven Kurutz, quoting Lisa Schwarzbaum, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like ‘Manhattan’?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "But as Lisa Schwarzbaum, the former movie critic for Entertainment Weekly, pointed out in an email interview, “‘Manhattan’ was always about a middle-aged man with a high school girlfriend. Back then, ‘Manhattan’ was made by Woody the Lovable Neurotic Nebbish, and now it has been made by Allen the Monster. And it’s the same movie.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 May 14, Alix Strauss, “How the Head of a Filmmaking Center Spends His Sundays”, in The New York Times",
          "text": "“Having a camera in my hands transformed a nebbish into someone who could make New York into a better place,” he said. “To help others do the same is important to us.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who is fearful and timid, especially in making decisions and plans, in discussions, debates, arguments, and confrontations, and in taking responsibility."
      ],
      "id": "en-nebbish-en-noun-YD9B7Uyw",
      "links": [
        [
          "timid",
          "timid"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nebech"
        },
        {
          "word": "nebesh"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "uncommon"
          ],
          "word": "nebish"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnɛ.bɪʃ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛbɪʃ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "nebbish"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "nebbish-like"
    },
    {
      "word": "nebbishy"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "yi",
        "3": "נעביש"
      },
      "expansion": "Yiddish נעביש (nebish)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "yi",
        "2": "נעבעך",
        "t": "poor, unfortunate"
      },
      "expansion": "נעבעך (nebekh, “poor, unfortunate”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From American Yiddish נעביש (nebish), from נעבעך (nebekh, “poor, unfortunate”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nebbishes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nebbish (plural nebbishes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English 2-syllable words",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms derived from Yiddish",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Rhymes:English/ɛbɪʃ",
        "Rhymes:English/ɛbɪʃ/2 syllables"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Actor Rick Moranis often plays a nebbish.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Foster Hirsh, quoting Woody Allen, Love, Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life: The Films of Woody Allen",
          "text": "“I don't consider myself a nebbish,” Woody told interviewers early in his career, “but everyone else does.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 March 1, Steven Kurutz, quoting Lisa Schwarzbaum, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like ‘Manhattan’?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
          "text": "But as Lisa Schwarzbaum, the former movie critic for Entertainment Weekly, pointed out in an email interview, “‘Manhattan’ was always about a middle-aged man with a high school girlfriend. Back then, ‘Manhattan’ was made by Woody the Lovable Neurotic Nebbish, and now it has been made by Allen the Monster. And it’s the same movie.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 May 14, Alix Strauss, “How the Head of a Filmmaking Center Spends His Sundays”, in The New York Times",
          "text": "“Having a camera in my hands transformed a nebbish into someone who could make New York into a better place,” he said. “To help others do the same is important to us.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who is fearful and timid, especially in making decisions and plans, in discussions, debates, arguments, and confrontations, and in taking responsibility."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "timid",
          "timid"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnɛ.bɪʃ/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛbɪʃ"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "nebech"
    },
    {
      "word": "nebesh"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "uncommon"
      ],
      "word": "nebish"
    }
  ],
  "word": "nebbish"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (82c8ff9 and f4967a5). 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.

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