wishy-washy

comparative wishy-washier · comparative more wishy-washy · superlative wishy-washiest · superlative most wishy-washy

1. Wavering; lacking in commitment, certainty, support, and (often) clarity; namby-pamby.

   Near-synonyms: vacillating, vacillatory

   2 more examples

   Not wanting to be pressed for details, public relations gave a wishy-washy answer.

   I’m not about to vote Conservative myself (I’m a wishy-washy centrist who liked Tony Blair’s early work and has since mostly voted Labour, with an occasional swing to the Liberal Democrats and Greens)[…]

   2023 July 17, Rhymer Rigby, “Sick of this Conservative government? That shouldn’t stop you having Tory friends”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: vacillating, vacillatory

2. Thin or watery.

   Near-synonyms: watered-down, diluted, dilute

   3 more examples

   The wishy-washy orange juice served by the cafeteria not only failed to be sweet; it was barely orange.

   Usually the quality of the liquor is judged by the "bite" of it. The hotter the better. A drink of first class, aged whisky would be ridiculed in most parts of Maine as a wishy-washy beverage fit only for mollycoddles. The Down East "soak" wants something that stings and burns all the way, and usually he gets it[…]

   1915, “Maine booze turns an iron tub blue”, in The Mixer and Server

   And you will appreciate drinking the hot cup, or rather billy, of tea—which is more than one can call the wishy-washy concoction served up in some 'tea-houses'.

   2006, Gipsy Petulengro, Romany Hints for Outdoor Living and Tips for Ramblers, page 7

   Synonyms: watered-down, diluted, dilute