sapless

[ sap-lis ]

adjective

1. without sap; withered; dry:

   sapless plants.

2. lacking vitality or spirit; insipid.

Other Words From

• sapless·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sapless¹

First recorded in 1585–95; sap ¹ + -less

Example Sentences

One of the first legislative memoirs I read, in about 1972, was "Congress: The Sapless Branch," written a decade earlier by Joseph Clark, who then represented my home state, Pennsylvania, in the U.S.

From Salon

John Ruskin described the comic opera “Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg” as “sapless, soulless, beginningless, endless, topless, bottomless.”

From Washington Post

For Cunningham, the sexting scandal seemed like a crack in his carefully crafted sapless public persona—until, that is, one considered the actual leaked messages.

From Slate

Liberal Sen. Joseph Clark of Pennsylvania blasted his colleagues as the “Sapless Branch” of government.

From Washington Post

Whenever I talked, my voice came out sapless.

From Literature

Related Words

• ailing
• decrepit
• flabby
• fragile
• frail
• incompetent
• inefficient
• infirm
• lame
• paltry
• puny
• sickly
• tame
• weak
• weakened