Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Lacking physical strength, energy, or vigor; feeble.
- adjective Likely to fail under pressure, stress, or strain; lacking resistance.
- adjective Lacking firmness of character or strength of will.
- adjective Lacking intensity or strength; faint.
- adjective Lacking the proper strength or amount of ingredients.
- adjective Having low prices or few transactions.
- adjective Lacking the ability to function normally or fully.
- adjective Unable to digest food easily; readily nauseated.
- adjective Lacking or resulting from a lack of intelligence.
- adjective Lacking aptitude or skill.
- adjective Lacking persuasiveness; unconvincing.
- adjective Lacking authority or the power to govern.
- adjective Of, relating to, or being those verbs in Germanic languages that form a past tense and past participle by means of a dental suffix, as start, started; have, had; bring, brought.
- adjective Of, relating to, or being the inflection of nouns or adjectives in Germanic languages with a declensional suffix that historically contained an n.
- adjective Unstressed or unaccented in pronunciation or poetic meter. Used of a word or syllable.
- adjective Designating a verse ending in which the metrical stress falls on a word or syllable that is unstressed in normal speech, such as a preposition.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make weak; weaken.
- To soften.
- To become weak.
- Bending under pressure, weight, or force; pliant, or pliable; yielding; lacking stiffness or firmness: as, the weak stem of a plant.
- Lacking strength; not strong.
- Deficient in bodily strength, vigor, or robustness; feeble, either constitutionally or from age, disease, etc.; infirm; of the organs of the body, deficient in functional energy, activity, or the like: as, a weak stomach; weak eyes.
- Lacking moral strength or firmness; liable to waver or succumb when urged or tempted; deficient in steady principle or in force of character.
- Lacking mental power, ability, or balance; simple; silly; foolish.
- Unequal to a particular need or emergency; ineffectual or inefficacious; inadequate or unsatisfactory; incapable; impotent.
- Incapable of support; not to be sustained or maintained: unsupported by truth, reason, or justice: as, a weak claim, assertion, argument, etc.
- Deficient in force of utterance or sound; having little volume, loudness, or sonorousness; low; feeble; small.
- Not abundantly or sufficiently impregnated with the essential, required, or usual ingredients, or with stimulating or nourishing substances or properties; not of the usual strength: as, weak tea; weak broth; a weak infusion; weak punch.
- Deficient in pith, pregnancy, or point; lacking in vigor of expression: as, a weak sentence; a weak style.
- Resulting from or indicating lack of judgment, discernment, or firmness; arising from want of moral courage, of self-denial, or of determination; injudicious: as, a weak compliance; a weak surrender.
- Slight; inconsiderable; trifling.
- (I) In grammar, infiected— as a verb, by regular syllabic addition instead of by change of the radical vowel;
- as a noun or an adjective, with less full or original differences of case-and number-forms: opposed to strong (which see).
- Poorly supplied; deficient: as, a hand weak in trumps.
- Tending downward in price: as, a weak market; corn was weak.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- verb rare To make or become weak; to weaken.
- adjective Wanting physical strength.
- adjective Deficient in strength of body; feeble; infirm; sickly; debilitated; enfeebled; exhausted.
- adjective Not able to sustain a great weight, pressure, or strain.
- adjective Not firmly united or adhesive; easily broken or separated into pieces; not compact.
- adjective Not stiff; pliant; frail; soft.
- adjective Not able to resist external force or onset; easily subdued or overcome.
- adjective Lacking force of utterance or sound; not sonorous; low; small; feeble; faint.
- adjective Not thoroughly or abundantly impregnated with the usual or required ingredients, or with stimulating and nourishing substances; of less than the usual strength.
- adjective Lacking ability for an appropriate function or office.
- adjective Not possessing or manifesting intellectual, logical, moral, or political strength, vigor, etc.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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For the sore itself, apply weak vinegar or _very weak_ ACETIC ACID (_see_), and
Papers on Health John Kirk
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It is that danger which Paul is thinking of when he tells the elders that by 'labouring' they 'ought to support the weak'; for by _weak_ he means not the poor, but those imperfect disciples who might be repelled or made to stumble by the sight of greed in an elder.
Expositions of Holy Scripture: the Acts Alexander Maclaren 1868
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Regarding the reception of the infirm, he might have exclaimed with St. Paul: _Who is weak and I am not weak_?
The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales Jean Pierre Camus 1618
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I was afraid to say it in there -- I am so weak for you, Prue -- I ache so for you in all this trouble -- why, if I could feel your hands in my hair, I'd laugh at it all -- I'm so _weak_ for you, dearest. "
The Lions of the Lord A Tale of the Old West Harry Leon Wilson 1903
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II. iv.204 (388,1) I pray you, father, being weak, seem so] [W: deem't so] The meaning is, since _you are weak_, be content to think yourself weak.
Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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She suddenly realized that if she had not been sitting down, she would have learned the true meaning of the phrase weak in the knees.
Sharp Edges Jayne Ann Krentz 1998
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At the same time, he acknowledges several potential problems - including the fact that China is a developing country with a large population and what he calls a "weak economic foundation and uneven development".
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They remember that concern for the weak is at the heart of Biblical religious tradition.
Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie: Religion, Politics and the Return of Ralph Reed: Is That God or Ambition Talking? Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie 2010
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They remember that concern for the weak is at the heart of Biblical religious tradition.
Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie: Religion, Politics and the Return of Ralph Reed: Is That God or Ambition Talking? Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie 2010
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At the same time, he acknowledges several potential problems - including the fact that China is a developing country with a large population and what he calls a "weak economic foundation and uneven development".
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In 1973, Stanford sociology professor Mark Granovetter coined the terms “weak ties” to refer to acquaintances and “strong ties” to mean close friends, family, and partners.
I Quit My Corporate Job to Become a Crossing Guard. It’s Perfect. Eden Robins 2024
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