Word.ws English Dictionary

milquetoast

Syllables: milque·toast/ˈmɪlk.təʊ̯st//ˈmɪlk.təʊ̯st/

milquetoast adjective: meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.

Adjective (1)

milquetoast (comparative more milquetoast, superlative most milquetoast)

  1. (derogatory, informal) Meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.
    • The truth is that we are cursed with a "milquetoast" Government operating under "milquetoast" policies. Fear has become a national policy.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...
    • If Bach had any guts, he wouldn't take that. He's too much of a Milquetoast guy.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...

Noun (1)

milquetoast (plural milquetoasts)

  1. (derogatory, informal) A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness.
    • We know that theology must be common to all believers, but again we also know that some enjoy only milquetoast (german milchspeise), while others can eat solid food, and that one and the same truth is apprehended in different ways, for it is not possible to accommodate all these ways to the grasp...1895, “The twenty-second Psalm”, in Dr. Martin Luther’s Complete Writings (english translation), St. Louis, Mo.; []: Ministry of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other...
    • 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.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

Adjective (2) capitalized: Milquetoast

Milquetoast (comparative more Milquetoast, superlative most Milquetoast)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of milquetoast.
    • If Bach had any guts, he wouldn't take that. He's too much of a Milquetoast guy.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...
    • Like that well-meaning mom, parents employ Milquetoast speech whenever they whine, complain, plead, entreat, entice, bribe, and explain themselves persuasively.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...

Noun (2) capitalized: Milquetoast

Milquetoast (plural Milquetoasts)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of milquetoast.
    • 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.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
    • 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...1988, Muriel Larson, Me and My Pet Peeves, Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, →ISBN, page 79

Examples of milquetoast in a sentence

  • I should have listened to my mother when she told me to stay out of journalism because of idiot milquetoast jerk reporters like you!1994, William G. Lycan, “Fiction and Essence”, in Modality and Meaning, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →ISBN, section 4 (The Modal...
  • [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.2001, Barry Gifford, “The Getaway”, in Out of the Past: Adventures in Film Noir, revised edition, Jackson, Miss.: University Press of...
  • 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?2016, Christopher Kelly, The Pink Bus, Mapple Shade, N.J.: Lethe Press, →ISBN, page 80:
  • 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.2018 February 18, David Ehrlich, “‘Eva’ Review: Not Even Isabelle Huppert Playing an Irritated Prostitute Can Save this Limp Melodrama”, in...

Synonyms of milquetoast

15 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of milquetoast

Forms of milquetoast

Adjective
comparativemore milquetoast
superlativemost milquetoast
alternative formmilktoast
alternative formMilquetoast
comparativemore Milquetoast
superlativemost Milquetoast
Noun
pluralmilquetoasts
pluralMilquetoasts

Origin of milquetoast

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”), from milque (pseudo-Gallicism derived from English milk) + toast.

Words formed from milquetoast

Questions about milquetoast

What does milquetoast mean?
Milquetoast means meek, timid; lacking character or effectiveness.
How do you use milquetoast in a sentence?
I should have listened to my mother when she told me to stay out of journalism because of idiot milquetoast jerk reporters like you!
What part of speech is milquetoast?
Milquetoast can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce milquetoast?
Milquetoast is pronounced /ˈmɪlk.təʊ̯st/.

Words near milquetoast in the dictionary

  1. milpas
  2. Milpenis
  3. Milperra
  4. milphosis
  5. Milpitas
  6. milquetoast
  7. milquetoasted
  8. milquetoastedly
  9. milquetoastery
  10. milquetoastness
  11. milquetoasts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: milquetoast (page history and authors); Milquetoast (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-milquetoast.wav.

Cite this entry: “milquetoast.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/milquetoast. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.