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Synonyms
Weak - 7 dictionary results
weak
[week]
–adjective, -er, -est.
| 1. | not strong; liable to yield, break, or collapse under pressure or strain; fragile; frail: a weak fortress; a weak spot in armor. |
| 2. | lacking in bodily strength or healthy vigor, as from age or sickness; feeble; infirm: a weak old man; weak eyes. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 7. | deficient in mental power, intelligence, or judgment: a weak mind. |
| 8. | not having much moral strength or firmness, resolution, or force of character: to prove weak under temptation; weak compliance. |
| 9. | deficient in amount, volume, loudness, intensity, etc.; faint; slight: a weak current of electricity; a weak pulse. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
Origin:
1250–1300; ME weik < ON veikr; c. OE wāc, D week, G weich; akin to OE wīcan to yield, give way, ON vīkja to move, turn, draw back, G weichen to yield
1250–1300; ME weik < ON veikr; c. OE wāc, D week, G weich; akin to OE wīcan to yield, give way, ON vīkja to move, turn, draw back, G weichen to yield

Synonyms:
1. breakable, delicate. 2. senile, sickly, unwell, invalid. 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. 4. ineffective. 6. unsound, ineffective, inadequate, illogical, inconclusive, unsustained, unsatisfactory, lame, vague. 7. unintelligent, simple, foolish, stupid, senseless, silly. 8. vacillating, wavering, unstable, irresolute, fluctuating, undecided, weak-kneed. 9. slender, slim, inconsiderable, flimsy, poor, trifling, trivial. 11. wanting, short, lacking.
1. breakable, delicate. 2. senile, sickly, unwell, invalid. 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. 4. ineffective. 6. unsound, ineffective, inadequate, illogical, inconclusive, unsustained, unsatisfactory, lame, vague. 7. unintelligent, simple, foolish, stupid, senseless, silly. 8. vacillating, wavering, unstable, irresolute, fluctuating, undecided, weak-kneed. 9. slender, slim, inconsiderable, flimsy, poor, trifling, trivial. 11. wanting, short, lacking.
Antonyms:
1. strong.
1. strong.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Weak
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Weak
Weak\, a. 1. (Stock Exchange) Tending toward a lower price or lower prices; as, wheat is weak; a weak market. 2. (Card Playing) Lacking in good cards; deficient as to number or strength; as, a hand weak in trumps. 3. (Photog.) Lacking contrast; as, a weak negative.Weak
Weak\ (w[=e]k), a. [Compar. Weaker (-[~e]r); superl. Weakest.] [OE. weik, Icel. veikr; akin to Sw. vek, Dan. veg soft, flexible, pliant, AS. w[=a]c weak, soft, pliant, D. week, G. weich, OHG. weih; all from the verb seen in Icel. v[=i]kja to turn, veer, recede, AS. w[=i]can to yield, give way, G. weichen, OHG. w[=i]hhan, akin to Skr. vij, and probably to E. week, L. vicis a change, turn, Gr. e'i`kein to yield, give way. [root]132. Cf. Week, Wink, v. i. Vicissitude.]1. Wanting physical strength. Specifically: (a) Deficient in strength of body; feeble; infirm; sickly; debilitated; enfeebled; exhausted. A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man. --Shak. Weak with hunger, mad with love. --Dryden. (b) Not able to sustain a great weight, pressure, or strain; as, a weak timber; a weak rope. (c) Not firmly united or adhesive; easily broken or separated into pieces; not compact; as, a weak ship. (d) Not stiff; pliant; frail; soft; as, the weak stalk of a plant. (e) Not able to resist external force or onset; easily subdued or overcome; as, a weak barrier; as, a weak fortress. (f) Lacking force of utterance or sound; not sonorous; low; small; feeble; faint. A voice not soft, weak, piping, and womanish. --Ascham. (g) Not thoroughly or abundantly impregnated with the usual or required ingredients, or with stimulating and nourishing substances; of less than the usual strength; as, weak tea, broth, or liquor; a weak decoction or solution; a weak dose of medicine. (h) Lacking ability for an appropriate function or office; as, weak eyes; a weak stomach; a weak magistrate; a weak regiment, or army. 2. Not possessing or manifesting intellectual, logical, moral, or political strength, vigor, etc. Specifically: (a) Feeble of mind; wanting discernment; lacking vigor; spiritless; as, a weak king or magistrate. To think every thing disputable is a proof of a weak mind and captious temper. --Beattie. Origen was never weak enough to imagine that there were two Gods. --Waterland. (b) Resulting from, or indicating, lack of judgment, discernment, or firmness; unwise; hence, foolish. If evil thence ensue, She first his weak indulgence will accuse. --Milton. (c) Not having full confidence or conviction; not decided or confirmed; vacillating; wavering. Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. --Rom. xiv. 1. (d) Not able to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc.; easily impressed, moved, or overcome; accessible; vulnerable; as, weak resolutions; weak virtue. Guard thy heart On this weak side, where most our nature fails. --Addison. (e) Wanting in power to influence or bind; as, weak ties; a weak sense of honor of duty. (f) Not having power to convince; not supported by force of reason or truth; unsustained; as, a weak argument or case. "Convinced of his weak arguing." --Milton. A case so weak . . . hath much persisted in. --Hooker. (g) Wanting in point or vigor of expression; as, a weak sentence; a weak style. (h) Not prevalent or effective, or not felt to be prevalent; not potent; feeble. "Weak prayers." --Shak. (i) Lacking in elements of political strength; not wielding or having authority or energy; deficient in the resources that are essential to a ruler or nation; as, a weak monarch; a weak government or state. I must make fair weather yet awhile, Till Henry be more weak, and I more strong. --Shak. (k) (Stock Exchange) Tending towards lower prices; as, a weak market. 3. (Gram.) (a) Pertaining to, or designating, a verb which forms its preterit (imperfect) and past participle by adding to the present the suffix -ed, -d, or the variant form -t; as in the verbs abash, abashed; abate, abated; deny, denied; feel, felt. See Strong, 19 (a) . (b) Pertaining to, or designating, a noun in Anglo-Saxon, etc., the stem of which ends in -n. See Strong, 19 (b) . Note: Weak is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, weak-eyed, weak-handed, weak-hearted, weak-minded, weak-spirited, and the like. Weak conjugation (Gram.), the conjugation of weak verbs; -- called also new, or regular, conjugation, and distinguished from the old, or irregular, conjugation. Weak declension (Anglo-Saxon Gram.), the declension of weak nouns; also, one of the declensions of adjectives. Weak side, the side or aspect of a person's character or disposition by which he is most easily affected or influenced; weakness; infirmity. Weak sore or ulcer (Med.), a sore covered with pale, flabby, sluggish granulations.Weak
Weak\, v. t. & i. [Cf. AS. w?can. w[=a]cian. See Weak, a.] To make or become weak; to weaken. [R.] Never to seek weaking variety. --Marston.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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weak
c.1300, from O.N. veikr "weak," cognate with O.E. wac "weak, pliant, soft," from P.Gmc. *waikwaz "yield," *wikanan "bend" (cf. O.S. wek, Swed. vek, M.Du. weec, Du. week "weak, soft, tender," O.H.G. weih "yielding, soft," Ger. weich "soft," from PIE base *weik- "to bend, wind" (see vicarious). Sense of "lacking authority" is first recorded 1423; that of "lacking moral strength" c.1375. Weaken (v.) is recorded from 1530; the earlier verb was simply weak (c.1374). Weak-kneed "wanting in resolve" is from 1870.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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weak
In addition to the idioms beginning with weak, also see spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.

