Meaning & use
wimp
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Meanings
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
A person who is seen as weak, easily frightened, or unwilling to take a risk or face something difficult.
Grammar: Takes a/the and has a plural: a wimp, two wimps.
Patterns
- be a wimp about something
- call someone a wimp
My brother called me a wimp because I would not go on the tallest roller coaster.
Don't be such a wimp; it's only a small injection.
He felt like a wimp for crying at the end of the film.
verbphrasal verbinformal
To avoid doing something because you are too scared or lack the nerve, usually followed by out.
Grammar: Almost always used as wimp out, with no object: she wimped out at the last minute.
Patterns
- wimp out
- wimp out of something
We planned to swim across the lake, but Dan wimped out when he saw how cold it was.
Don't wimp out of the interview just because you're nervous.
I nearly wimped out, but I made myself knock on the door.
Word forms
| plural | wimps |
|---|---|
| third person singular | wimps |
| past tense | wimped |
| -ing form | wimping |
Common combinations
- a complete wimp
- He claims he's brave, but he's a complete wimp around spiders.
- wimp out
- Three of us signed up for the race, and two wimped out.
- call someone a wimp
- The older kids called him a wimp for refusing to jump.
- feel like a wimp
- I felt like a wimp asking for help carrying a light box.
- such a wimp
- You're such a wimp when it comes to hot sauce.
Synonyms and how they differ
- coward
- Coward is stronger and more serious, suggesting a real lack of courage in danger, whereas wimp is lighter and often teasing.
- weakling
- Weakling focuses on physical or general weakness, while wimp focuses on timidity and lack of nerve.
- sissy
- Sissy is more dated and carries unpleasant gender stereotypes, so wimp is the safer everyday choice.
- scaredy-cat
- Scaredy-cat is playful and mostly used with or about children, while wimp can sound harsher.
Opposites
Word family
- wimpy adjective
- weak, timid, or feeble
- wimpish adjective
- like a wimp; cowardly or feeble
- wimpishly adverb
- in a timid or feeble way
- wimpiness noun
- the quality of being weak or timid
Commonly confused: wimp or whim?
wimp vs whim
A whim is a sudden fancy or impulse; it only looks similar in spelling and has nothing to do with being timid.
Practice
Which sentence uses the verb correctly?
Choose one answer.
The verb is a phrasal verb, wimp out (of something), meaning to back away through fear. The other options drop the particle or use prepositions that do not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wimp”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.