weak
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: simple
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Etymology: From Middle English weyk, wayk, weik, waik, borrowed from Old Norse veikr (“weak”), from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz (“weak, yielded, pliant, bendsome”), of uncertain origin.
Cognate with Old English wāc (“weak, bendsome”), Saterland Frisian wook (“soft, gentle, tender”), West Frisian weak (“soft”), Dutch week (“soft, weak”), German weich (“weak, soft”), Norwegian veik (“weak”), Swedish vek (“weak, pliant”), Icelandic veikur (“bendsome, weak”). Related to Old English wīcan (“to yield”). Related to week and wick.
The grammar sense is a calque of German schwach.
Inflected forms:
form: weaker
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: weakest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: weake
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability.
pos: adj
examples: The child was too weak to move the boulder.
They easily guessed his weak computer password.
a poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man
weak with hunger, mad with love
The prospects for the global economy as outlined by the IMF are the third weakest since 2001, behind only the 2008 financial crisis and the worst phase of the coronavirus pandemic. Global growth has fallen below 2% just five times since 1970.
gloss: Unable to sustain a great weight, pressure, or strain.
pos: adj
examples: a weak timber; a weak rope
gloss: Limp, soft.
pos: adj
gloss: Unable to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc.; easily impressed, moved, or overcome; accessible; vulnerable.
pos: adj
examples: weak resolutions; weak virtue
Guard thy heart / On this weak side, where most our nature fails.
gloss: Having a strong, irrepressible emotional love for someone or (less often) something; sentimentally affected by such love.
pos: adj
tags: often
examples: 'Cause sugar pie, honey bunch
You know that I'm weak for you
Can't help myself
I love you and nobody else
It’s really good to hear your voice
Sayin' my name, it sounds so sweet
Comin' from the lips of an angel
Hearin' those words, it makes me weak
gloss: Dilute, lacking in taste or potency.
pos: adj
examples: That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
We were served stale bread and weak tea.
gloss: Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including:
pos: adj
examples: The verb to walk is weak because it has a past tense of walked and all forms are inflected by adding the typical suffix (ie is regular) to the stem walk- (ie has no vowel changes).
The verb to run is strong, not weak, because the past tense is ran.
The verb to be is neither weak nor strong, instead it is highly irregular in all inflections; its third person present tense is is instead of *bes (which can even be seen in this very sentence) and its past tense is was or were instead of *bed or *beed or anything similar, just to name a few of its inflections.
gloss: Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including:
pos: adj
gloss: Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including:
pos: adj
gloss: Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including:
pos: adj
examples: In some Semitic languages such as Akkadian, some or all gutturals are weak and often disappear, but in others such as Arabic and Ugaritic, they are strong and never disappear.
The reflexes of the Proto-Semitic verb *mawut- (“to die”) are often weak due to the presence of w, for example: Arabic مَاتَ (māta), Hebrew מֵת (mēṯ), and Ugaritic 𐎎𐎚 (mt /⁠māta⁠/).
gloss: Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including:
pos: adj
examples: The Finnish verb kääntää (“to translate”) inflects to the singular imperative as käännä, showing the weak gradation nt > nn because it historically ended in a consonant which closed the syllable.
gloss: Of a form in which the accent tends to shift forwards (to the right, in transcription) or did so ancestrally in Proto-Indo-European, relative to the strong stem (which has the leftmost accent allowed).
pos: adj
tags: Indo-European-studies
especially
examples: Paradigmatic slots in which the accent and correlating e-grade are positioned further to the left of the word are traditionally termed strong, those with accent and e-grade further to the right, are called weak. In all nouns and verbs which show these alternations, the strong and the weak forms are predictable from the morphological category […].
The PIE zero grade was most often found in weak stems, such as in *mn̥téys (“of thought, from thinking”, genitive/ablative singular of *méntis) and *mn̥yóh₂er (“I am thinking”). Over time it spread to strong stems, i.e. *mń̥tis, by processes of analogy and leveling. The full grade was persistent in the first syllable of reduplicated stative verbs: strong *tetórph₂e (“I am satisfied”), weak *tetr̥pmé (“we all are satisfied”), though for some verbs such as *pí-ph₃-e- (“to drink”) there was an unusual i-grade which may have lacked any distinct weak counterpart.
gloss: Of a form in which the accent tends to shift forwards (to the right, in transcription) or did so ancestrally in Proto-Indo-European, relative to the strong stem (which has the leftmost accent allowed).
pos: adj
tags: Indo-European-studies
especially
gloss: Of a form in which the accent tends to shift forwards (to the right, in transcription) or did so ancestrally in Proto-Indo-European, relative to the strong stem (which has the leftmost accent allowed).
pos: adj
tags: Indo-European-studies
especially
examples: All middle forms of Indo-European verbs are traditionally weak. Middle-only verbs can still be compared to hypothetical strong stems, such as weak *ǵn̥h₁-yé- (e.g. *ǵn̥h₁yéto, “(he/she/it) was born”) versus strong *ǵénh₁-ye-.
gloss: Lenis, pronounced with less force or less markedness.
pos: adj
gloss: That does not ionize completely into anions and cations in a solution.
pos: adj
examples: a weak acid
a weak base
When we say that an acid is weak, we refer only to its degree of dissociation, not to its degree of corrosiveness; but it is true that those two traits often correlate, though.
gloss: One of the four fundamental forces associated with nuclear decay.
pos: adj
gloss: Bad or uncool.
pos: adj
tags: slang
examples: This place is weak.
gloss: Having a narrow range of logical consequences; narrowly applicable. (Often contrasted with a strong statement which implies it.)
pos: adj
gloss: Resulting from, or indicating, lack of judgment, discernment, or firmness; unwise; hence, foolish.
pos: adj
examples: If evil thence ensue, / She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
gloss: Not having power to convince; not supported by force of reason or truth; unsustained.
pos: adj
examples: The prosecution advanced a weak case.
convinced of his weak arguing
There are two fundamental theorems of calculus. Both relate differentiation to integration. In most calculus courses, the Second Fundamental Theorem is usually proved first and then used to prove the First Fundamental Theorem. Unfortunately, this results in a First Fundamental Theorem that is weaker than it could be.
gloss: Lacking in vigour or expression.
pos: adj
examples: a weak sentence; a weak style
It could turn out that An Unexpected Journey is the weakest of this trilogy, the necessary preamble before less-stultifying action and more engaging character development ensue. But, to paraphrase the sweet and stout-hearted Bilbo himself, this adventure won’t just make you late for dinner. It might make you miss breakfast and lunch, too. Only the most dedicated Middle-earthers will find that the hunger pangs are worth it.
gloss: Not prevalent or effective, or not felt to be prevalent; not potent; feeble.
pos: adj
examples: Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
gloss: Tending towards lower prices.
pos: adj
examples: a weak market; wheat is weak at present
gloss: Lacking contrast.
pos: adj
examples: a weak negative
Synonyms: anemic
breakable
broken-down
damaged
debilitated
decrepit
delicate
dickless
effete
enervated
enfeebled
exhausted
faint
flimsy
fragile
harmed
hurt
impaired
impotent
infirm
injured
languid
low
prostrated
prostrate
puny
raddled
resistless
sapped
slightsoft
softened
susceptible
tender
tired
torpid
unresistant
wasted
weak
weakened
weary
weedy
wimpy
worn out
yielding
Antonyms: healthy
powerful
robust
strong
invincible
potent
robust
strong
strong
able-bodied
athletic
beefy
brawny
capable
competent
durable
firm
fit
fortified
hale
hardened
hardy
mighty
muscular
puissant
rugged
sinewy
sound
stalwart
stout
strapping
strengthened
sturdy
toughened
tough
vigorous
virile
vitalized
Related words: weak spot
Derived words: bring it weak
electroweak
miliweak
nonweak
overweak
piss-weak
piss weak
superweak
the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must
weak AI
weak artificial intelligence
weak as piss
weak as water
weak atheist
weak-bladdered
weak-chinned
weak copyleft
weak declension
weaken
weaker sex
weaker vessel
weakest link
weak-eyed
weakfish
weak force
weak-handed
weak-headed
weak-hearted
weakino
weak interaction
weak in the knees
weakish
weak isospin
weak-kneed
weakling
weak link
weakly
weak mayor
weak-minded
weakness
weak nuclear
weak nuclear force
weak nuclear interaction
weakon
weak point
weak pronoun
weak reference
weaksauce
weak sauce
weakside
weak-side
weak side
weak-sighted
weak sister
weaksome
weak sore
weak spot
weak tea
weak typing
weak ulcer
weak verb
weak vowel merger
weak-willed
weaky
Translations: