Is there a single word for `sheep-like' ?

[scythedkiwi]

you can use the adverb "sheepishly" to indicate that someone followed someone or something without thinking it through.

[mykwyner]

My father, who had a very extensive vocabulary, used to call us something that sounded like "ah-ma-dahms" when we blindly followed the crowd. I have been unable to find this word in any of the spellings I have tried. I wonder if any of my fellow forum folk can help me with this?

Mike

[blueabell2go]

Could your father have been using the word "automaton", ie a person who acts like a machine, without thinking or feeling?

[mykwyner]

No, that's not it.

[risby]

Originally Posted by mykwyner

My father, who had a very extensive vocabulary, used to call us something that sounded like "ah-ma-dahms" when we blindly followed the crowd.

Well, what a fascinating chap your father must have been. I put armadames into google and, for what must be the first time ever, I only got one hit which is to www.spankingtools.com

[BobK]

Perhaps an "ah-ma-dahm" is like a yes-man in a department store, who greets any female client with the expression "Ah, Madame" with an affected quasi-French pronunciation, and holds that the customer is always right.

b

[tomparrett]

The English word for sheep-like is "ovine," from the Latin "ovis" for sheep. "Bovine," by the way, means ox-like, but is often expanded to include all cattle. - Tom Parrett

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by tomparrett

The English word for sheep-like is "ovine," from the Latin "ovis" for sheep. "Bovine," by the way, means ox-like, but is often expanded to include all cattle. - Tom Parrett

The dictionary meaning of ovine and bovine refer to the animal species, and are not generally transferred to human behaviour, whereas sheeplike as a single word means like or suggestive of a sheep in docility or stupidity or meekness or timidity, and oxlike can mean a clumsy, stupid fellow.

[BobK]

This isn't directly relevant, but it's an interesting link: Veterinary Sciences Tomorrow and scroll down to 'Adjectives that describe animals' (stopping on the way to browse anything that takes your fancy).

b

[eslkorea]

sheep-like reminds me of the phrase 'like a lamb' but i guess that's not the one..