wimpy stuff
- noun
- Informal
- I asked for hot sauce, but all they had was that wimpy stuff that tastes like water.
Examples
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This movie is too much wimpy stuff for horror fans who want some real scares.
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He doesn't like wimpy stuff when it comes to exercise; he prefers real challenges.
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This is just wimpy stuff!
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I can't believe they sell that wimpy stuff here.
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He prefers strong coffee, saying he can't drink that wimpy stuff that tastes too mild.
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When it comes to action movies, I avoid that wimpy stuff and look for films with real excitement.
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She criticized the design of the new phone, claiming it was filled with wimpy stuff instead of useful features.
Synonyms
A thing of very poor quality that is useless
Antonyms
How Good
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining the adjective 'wimpy' (timid, ineffectual) with the noun 'stuff' (things); a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to weak or low-quality things. This follows a common adjective+noun compositional pattern found across languages, so the sense should be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The phrase wimpy stuff comes from the simple idea of wimpy (weak or soft) plus stuff (things). One popular story says 'wimpy' was used for a comic character who seemed weak, so wimpy stuff paints a picture of things that are not strong or not very good, and that is why people use it to mean 'something weak or of poor quality'.