weak

[ week ]

adjective

, weak·er, weak·est.

1. not strong; liable to yield, break, or collapse under pressure or strain; fragile; frail:

   a weak fortress; a weak spot in armor.

   Synonyms: breakable, delicate

   Antonyms: strong

2. lacking in bodily strength or healthy vigor, as from age or sickness; feeble; infirm:

   a weak old man; weak eyes.

   Synonyms: invalid, unwell, sickly, senile

3. not having much political strength, governing power, or authority:

   a weak nation; a weak ruler.

4. lacking in force, potency, or efficacy; impotent, ineffectual, or inadequate:

   weak sunlight; a weak wind.

   Synonyms: ineffective

5. lacking in rhetorical or creative force or effectiveness:

   a weak reply to the charges; one of the author's weakest novels.

6. lacking in logical or legal force or soundness:

   a weak argument.

   Synonyms: vague, lame, unsatisfactory, inconclusive, illogical, inadequate, ineffective, unsound

7. deficient in mental power, intelligence, or judgment:

   a weak mind.

   Synonyms: stupid, foolish, simple, unintelligent, silly, senseless

8. not having much moral strength or firmness, resolution, or force of character:

   to prove weak under temptation; weak compliance.

   Synonyms: weak-kneed, undecided, irresolute, unstable, vacillating

9. deficient in amount, volume, loudness, intensity, etc.; faint; slight:

   a weak current of electricity; a weak pulse.

   Synonyms: trivial, trifling, poor, flimsy, inconsiderable, slim, slender

10. deficient, lacking, or poor in something specified:

    a hand weak in trumps; I'm weak in spelling.

11. deficient in the essential or usual properties or ingredients:

    weak tea.

    Synonyms: lacking, short, wanting

12. unstressed, as a syllable, vowel, or word.
13. (of Germanic verbs) inflected with suffixes, without inherited change of the root vowel, as English work, worked, or having a preterit ending in a dental, as English bring, brought.
14. (of Germanic nouns and adjectives) inflected with endings originally appropriate to stems terminating in -n, as the adjective alte in German der alte Mann (“the old man”).
15. (of wheat or flour) having a low gluten content or having a poor quality of gluten.
16. Photography. thin; not dense.
17. Commerce. characterized by a decline in prices:

    The market was weak in the morning but rallied in the afternoon.

weak

/ wiːk /

adjective

1. lacking in physical or mental strength or force; frail or feeble
2. liable to yield, break, or give way

   a weak link in a chain

3. lacking in resolution or firmness of character
4. lacking strength, power, or intensity

   a weak voice

5. lacking strength in a particular part

   a team weak in defence

6. 1. not functioning as well as normal

      weak eyes

   2. easily upset

      a weak stomach

7. lacking in conviction, persuasiveness, etc

   a weak argument

8. lacking in political or strategic strength

   a weak state

9. lacking the usual, full, or desirable strength of flavour

   weak tea

10. grammar
    1. denoting or belonging to a class of verbs, in certain languages including the Germanic languages, whose conjugation relies on inflectional endings rather than internal vowel gradation, as look, looks, looking, looked
    2. belonging to any part-of-speech class, in any of various languages, whose inflections follow the more regular of two possible patterns Compare strong
11. (of a syllable) not accented or stressed
12. (of a fuel-air mixture) containing a relatively low proportion of fuel Compare rich
13. photog having low density or contrast; thin
14. (of an industry, market, currency, securities, etc) falling in price or characterized by falling prices

Derived Forms

• ˈweakishly, adverb
• ˈweakishness, noun
• ˈweakish, adjective

Other Words From

• over·weak adjective
• over·weakly adverb
• over·weakness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of weak¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English weik, from Old Norse veikr; cognate with Old English wāc, Dutch week, German weich; akin to Old English wīcan “to yield, give way,” Old Norse vīkja “to move, turn, draw back,” German weichen “to yield”

Word History and Origins

Origin of weak¹

Old English wāc soft, miserable; related to Old Saxon wēk, Old High German weih, Old Norse veikr

Idioms and Phrases

• spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

Synonym Study

Weak, decrepit, feeble, weakly imply a lack of strength or of good health. Weak means not physically strong, because of extreme youth, old age, illness, etc.: weak after an attack of fever. Decrepit means old and broken in health to a marked degree: decrepit and barely able to walk. Feeble denotes much the same as weak, but connotes being pitiable or inferior: feeble and almost senile. Weakly suggests a long-standing sickly condition, a state of chronic bad health: A weakly child may become a strong adult.

Example Sentences

If the ocean temperatures are corrected, the warming trend of the early 20th century is weaker.

From Science Daily

The axion is distinctly different from another lightweight, weakly-interacting particle, the neutrino, which only interacts through gravity and the weak force and totally ignores the electromagnetic force.

From Science Daily

There was a weak El Niño earlier this year, and this wash-up coincided with the recent red tide and Santa Ana winds last week.

From Los Angeles Times

He added that Biden’s inability to contain and stop the war in Gaza and now Lebanon made Gulf governments see him as weak.

From Los Angeles Times

The magic lies in the daring it takes to declare a weaker group to be part of an overwhelming conspiracy.

From Salon

Related Words

• immature
• inadequate
• incomplete
• ineffective
• ineffectual
• inept
• lacking
• limited
• poor
• shaky
• slim
• small
• thin