milquetoast

1 of 2

noun

milque·​toast ˈmilk-ˌtōst 

: a timid, meek, or unassertive person

milquetoast

2 of 2

adjective

1

of a person : timid, meek, or unassertive

Do we really want a someone who is a milquetoast halfhearted candidate or someone who will defend the Constitution with every fiber of her being?

—Dana B. Orr

2

: lacking in character or vigor : wishy-washy

… after declining multiple opportunities to comment during the reporting of the story, he finally produced a most milquetoast statement Friday.

—Jerry Brewer

Did you know?

Why is it milquetoast, and not milk toast?

Caspar Milquetoast is a comic strip character created in 1924 by cartoonist Harold T. Webster. Beginning a few years after the character's debut, the term milquetoast came to describe a timid or meek person. Caspar's last name is fitting because milk toast is a weak, bland concoction of buttered toast served in a dish of warm milk.

Examples of milquetoast in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

One day, a milquetoast accountant (Jason Bateman) discovers that Diane has hacked his information, which leads to a crazy cross-country trip in which the two characters are reluctantly stuck together. —Tim Grierson, Vulture, 4 May 2024

Rising conservative activists disdained this approach as both milquetoast and politically ineffective. —Daniel Schlozman & Sam Rosenfeld / Made By History, TIME, 10 June 2024

Adjective

President Biden and Speaker McCarthy came to terms on a rather milquetoast bipartisan agreement to raise the debt ceiling. —David Harsanyi, National Review, 8 June 2023

And if viewers didn't anticipate Odenkirk taking this kind of role, their surprise is shared in Nobody by Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksei Serebryakov), a ruthless Russian mafia chief who can't believe a seemingly milquetoast guy like Hutch is snuffing out entire squadrons of his best foot soldiers. —Johnny Loftus, EW.com, 24 Aug. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Caspar Milquetoast, comic strip character created by H. T. Webster †1952 American cartoonist

Adjective

from Caspar Milquetoast — more at milquetoast entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1935, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1931, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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