🐛 Full of worms 😔 Very weak

wormy

1 8.7

Being weak and afraid to stand up for yourself

adjective
/ˈwɜrmi/

Offensive

: arrastrado

After years of being treated poorly, he developed a wormy personality, afraid to assert his opinions.
a wormy little

Examples

His wormy attitude made it difficult for him to stand up for himself in meetings.
You're a wormy slip of a human, back bent by the burden of work, mouth barely able to form the words of your people.

Blog text (1)
All the wormy, enfeebling pressures of the past year would be evicted from his spirit, and for the first time he'd be able to choose a path in life rather than accept the one upon which he had been set by necessity.

Fiction book (2001)
She felt wormy and unsure as she approached the intimidating crowd.

Synonyms

cringing

vswormy

Archaic

1 6.7

Being too afraid and eager to please others

is servile because of weakness or timidity rather than only fear

groveling

vswormy

1 7.4

Acting too eager to please and obey someone, often seeming weak

is more about weak, timid character than deliberate pleading

wormlike

vswormy

Offensive

8.4

Too willing to obey others and not speak up

is weaker and more timid rather than only self-effacing

Antonyms

assertive

42 4.2

Showing confidence when saying what you want or think

strong-willed

19 4.3

A person who decides to do something and does not change their mind

How Submissive

obsequious

Formal

7 9.3

servile

3 7.4

wormy

Offensive

1 8.7

submissive

38 5.1

meek

12 4.4

timid

1 3.5

Surface Forms

wormy positive

Morphology

wormy = worm (semi-transparent) = worm + y

The adjective is derived by suffixation from 'worm', but the sense is a figurative extension (timid, servile) rather than a literal description, so the link is not fully transparent.

Etymology

The word wormy is also used in a figurative way; a helpful way to remember this is to think of a worm as small and weak. So, a 'wormy' person is 'timid' or 'gives in easily' and does not stand up for themselves.