Word.ws English Dictionary

wet noodle

wet noodle noun: a noodle that is freshly made, before it dries out and becomes rigid.

Noun

wet noodle (plural wet noodles)

  1. A noodle that is freshly made, before it dries out and becomes rigid.
  2. A means of enacting a mild or ineffective symbolic punishment.
    • I think I understand police states and things like that. They are not intimidated by being whipped with a wet noodle, and Jackson-Vanik is a wet noodle.1990, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Trade, United States--People's Republic of China (PRC) trade relations
    • The wet noodle punishment argument is that it is in practice impossible to punish, e.g., a committed rape with beating the offender with a wet noodle.2002, Nils Jareborg, Scraps of Penal Theory, →ISBN, page 67
  3. A wimp.
    • I am a wet noodle, she had said sadly to Sister Albertine.1978, The Colorado Quarterly - Volume 27, page 115
    • He claimed to be an old army paratrooper, but talked like a social working wet noodle.2003, Gary Heller, White Holler Crime: Club Fed and the Federal Courthouse, →ISBN, page 78
  4. Someone or something that is limp, relaxed, or weak.
    • A day in the water in any weather need not turn you into a cold, wet noodle if you suit up in the proper attire.1983, Women's Sports - Volume 5, page ccxiv
    • I wouldn't go as far as Robert Samuelson did in Newsweek in referring to your plan as a wet noodle. It seems that somewhere between a wet noodle and bold new initiative, we might have reality.1986, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Proposals on International Debt Crisis
  5. (slang) A man with erectile dysfunction.
    • "Don't drink too much tonight. You know what happens when you drink too much." She lowered her voice. "You become a wet noodle."1978, Charles Bukowski, Women, page 235
    • "A real wet noodle — I wouldn't have had him on a bet," Maxine sniffed.1984, James Sherburne, Poor boy and a long way from home, →ISBN, page 320
  6. (slang) A flaccid penis.
    • TONO: A wet noodle. That's the explanation I gave to the desk clerk for having to leave in such a hurry. (He laughs.) A wet noodle. (He makes the gesture with a flaccid finger.) Oh, Jesus, and the guy understood.1981, Modern International Drama - Volumes 15-17, page 25
    • Today, she calls her state of sexual boredom chronic and puts the blame for it on liberated men. “They've gotten so ... There's this little wet noodle—this little nothing, you know—flapping around between my legs.1983, Cosmopolitan - Volume 195, page 242
  7. A weak handshake.
    • A good solid handshake tells it all. Beware of the "wet noodle" handshake, which conveys a weak and unsure character, or using both hands, such as the "politician's handshake" or the "glove," using both hands around your hand.1998, Valerie A. M. Demetros, More Secrets of Successful Exhibiting, →ISBN, page 150
    • Clearly the "wet noodle" handshake will not conquer the world and the "knuckle grinder" will not win friends.2003, Tiffany Field, Touch, →ISBN, page 22

Examples of wet noodle in a sentence

  • “Yeah, if they get out of line, I'll beat 'em with a wet noodle!” Mark chuckles.2007, Tom Thunderhorse, Charlie Goodbear, →ISBN, page 95:
  • If you think your brand isn't important, you need to hit yourself with a wet noodle and then crack open this book.2011, John Michael Morgan, Brand Against the Machine, →ISBN:
  • There, I said it, but we'll get out the wet noodle later.2013, Patrick Brighton, Hunters' Guide to Treating Medical Emergencies, →ISBN, page 68:
  • They may be just a "wet noodle" who has had some negative experiences in the conventional business world that caused them to be defensive in their attitude.2004, John Fuhrman, If They Say No Just Say Next!, →ISBN:

Forms of wet noodle

pluralwet noodles

Questions about wet noodle

What does wet noodle mean?
Wet noodle means a noodle that is freshly made, before it dries out and becomes rigid.
How do you use wet noodle in a sentence?
“Yeah, if they get out of line, I'll beat 'em with a wet noodle!” Mark chuckles.
What part of speech is wet noodle?
Wet noodle is a noun.
What is the plural of wet noodle?
The plural of wet noodle is wet noodles.

Words near wet noodle in the dictionary

  1. wet mops
  2. wet mount
  3. wet mounts
  4. wet my lips
  5. wet nelly
  6. wet noodle
  7. wet noodles
  8. wet nurse
  9. wet nursed
  10. wet nurses
  11. wet nursing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wet noodle (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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Cite this entry: “wet noodle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wet_noodle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.