milquetoast
Spineless, meek person
Milquetoast describes someone timid, meek, and easily dominated—a person who shrinks from confrontation or assertiveness.
The word comes from Caspar Milquetoast, a comic strip character of the 1920s whose name punned on milk toast, a bland invalid's food.
He was too much of a milquetoast to ask for a raise.
The term works as both noun and adjective: a milquetoast response to the crisis.
Timid, feeble person
- weaklingFeeble person
- doormatEntry rug for wiping
- spinelessLacking courage or resolve
- gutlessLacking bravery or nerve
pushover · patsy · milksop · jellyfish · pantywaist · wuss · wussy · scaredy-cat
Reserved and retiring
- bashfulUncomfortably self-conscious
- diffidentLacking self-assurance
- retiringLeaving the workforce
- reservedRestrained in manner
mousy · shrinking · hesitant · tentative · apprehensive · nervous · skittish · withdrawn
Easily controlled or taught
- compliantYielding to others' wishes
- obedientFollowing commands willingly
- deferentialShowing humble submission
- subservientExcessively eager to obey
acquiescent · yielding · servile · biddable · tractable · pliable · amenable · meek
Without flavor or interest
- vapidDull, without depth
- dullLacking edge or interest
- colorlessDevoid of pigmentation
- flavorlessHaving no taste
lifeless · flat · uninspiring · uninteresting · beige · vanilla · plain · boring
Lacking power or force
- feebleWeak and ineffective
- impotentLacking power or efficacy
- powerlessLacking strength or authority
- toothlessHaving no teeth
uninfluential · passive · inconsequential · forgettable · unremarkable · nondescript · negligible · invisible
wimp
Timid, feeble person
gutless · pushover · patsy · milksop · jellyfish · pantywaist · wuss · wussy · scaredy-cat · fraidy-cat
shy
Reserved and retiring
reserved · mousy · shrinking · hesitant · tentative · apprehensive · nervous · skittish · withdrawn · introverted
docile
Easily controlled or taught
- compliantYielding to others' wishes
- obedientFollowing commands willingly
- deferentialShowing humble submission
subservient · acquiescent · yielding · servile · biddable · tractable · pliable · amenable · meek · obsequious
insipid
Without flavor or interest
flavorless · lifeless · flat · uninspiring · uninteresting · beige · vanilla · plain · boring · anodyne
weak
Lacking power or force
toothless · uninfluential · passive · inconsequential · forgettable · unremarkable · nondescript · negligible · invisible · insignificant
- cowardicecoward, cowardly, craven, gutless, spineless
- cowardscoward, chicken, wimp, poltroon, craven
- pushoverspushover, doormat, wimp, weakling, meek
- small frysmall fry, small-fry, pipsqueak, little guy, nobody
- timiditybashfulness, shyness, timidness, timorousness, meekness
- losersloser, failure, runner-up, flop, beaten