Word.ws English Dictionary

wimp

/wɪmp/

wimp noun: someone who lacks confidence or courage, is weak, ineffectual, irresolute and wishy-washy. Also the alternative letter-case form of WIMP.

Noun (1)

wimp (plural wimps)

  1. (derogatory, slang) Someone who lacks confidence or courage, is weak, ineffectual, irresolute and wishy-washy.
    • (see title)1980 March 15, “MUSH FROM THE WIMP”, in The Boston Globe

Verb

wimp (third-person singular simple present wimps, present participle wimping, simple past and past participle wimped)

  1. (intransitive, slang) To behave submissively.
    • "They were wimping along and I was accomplished," she asserts with some pride and a touch of arrogance.1994, Paul Lyons, Class of '66: Living in Suburban Middle America, page 156
  2. (slang, transitive) To make (something) weak or wimpy.
    • If you're particularly fond of Foster's, Heineken or Moosehead at home, you will be disappointed to find that it's been wimped down for the American market.2003, Andrea Schulte-Peevers, California, page 69

Adjective

wimp (comparative more wimp, superlative most wimp)

  1. (slang) Weak, wimpy.

Noun (2) capitalized: WIMP

WIMP (countable and uncountable, plural WIMPs)

  1. (abbreviation, acronym, countable) Acronym of weakly interacting massive particle.
  2. (abbreviation, acronym, uncountable) Acronym of window, icon, menu, pointer, a graphical interface paradigm.
  3. (abbreviation, acronym, countable, rare) Acronym of window-icon-mouse program.

Proper noun capitalized: WIMP

WIMP

  1. (Internet, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Windows, Internet Information Services, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP/Perl/Python.

Also used as

wimp is also the alternative letter-case form of WIMP.

wimp meaning in Tagalog and Indonesian

wimp in Tagalog

someone who lacks confidence
mahiyain

wimp in Indonesian

someone who lacks confidence
pecundang

Synonyms of wimp

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of wimp

Forms of wimp

Noun
pluralwimps
alternative formwhimp
pluralWIMPs
Verb
third-person singular presentwimps
present participlewimping
past participlewimped
pastwimped
Adjective
comparativemore wimp
superlativemost wimp

Origin of wimp

Possibly a clipping of whimper. The term was understood in the United States by the 1930s, as it was incorporated into the names of two famous media characters known for living up to that name: The devious but cowardly Popeye supporting-character called "J. Wellington Wimpy", and the soft-spoken character "Wallace Wimple" from the radio show Fibber McGee and Molly.

See WIMP.

Words formed from wimp

Words that rhyme with wimp

4 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about wimp

What does wimp mean?
Wimp means someone who lacks confidence or courage, is weak, ineffectual, irresolute and wishy-washy.
What is wimp in Tagalog?
Wimp in Tagalog is mahiyain. See Wimp meaning in Tagalog.
What part of speech is wimp?
Wimp can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce wimp?
Wimp is pronounced /wɪmp/.
What is the plural of wimp?
The plural of wimp is wimps.

Words near wimp in the dictionary

  1. wimmicking
  2. wimmicks
  3. wimmin
  4. wimminfolk
  5. wimmyn
  6. wimp
  7. wimp out
  8. wimp rock
  9. WIMP-Zilla
  10. WIMP-Zillas
  11. wimped

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wimp (page history and authors); WIMP (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-wimp.ogg.

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