meek
/miːk
/adjective
Quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive: she brought her meek little husband along...
- Saskia was active and roamed around her cot, lively and feeding hungrily, while Helena was meek, quiet and still.
- One can be quiet, meek and fun, while the other snarls, bites and attacks everything.
- What did the Government members on that committee say, in meek, quiet voices?
Synonyms
patient, long-suffering, forbearing, resigned;
gentle, quiet, shy, retiring, reverent, peaceful, peaceable, docile, lamblike, mild, demure, modest, humble, lowly, diffident, unassuming, self-effacing, unpretentious, unambitious, unobtrusive
submissive, yielding, unresisting, obedient, compliant, tame, biddable, tractable, acquiescent, deferential, weak, timid, frightened, spineless, spiritless, unprotesting, like a lamb to the slaughter
informal weak-kneed, wimpish
Origin
Middle English me(o)c (also in the sense 'courteous or indulgent'), from Old Norse mjúkr 'soft, gentle'.