weak
Americanadjective
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weaker,
comparative
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weakest
superlative
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not strong; liable to yield, break, or collapse under pressure or strain; fragile; frail.
a weak fortress; a weak spot in armor.
- Antonyms:
- strong
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lacking in bodily strength or healthy vigor, as from age or sickness; feeble; infirm.
a weak old man; weak eyes.
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not having much political strength, governing power, or authority.
a weak nation; a weak ruler.
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lacking in force, potency, or efficacy; impotent, ineffectual, or inadequate.
weak sunlight; a weak wind.
- Synonyms:
- ineffective
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lacking in rhetorical or creative force or effectiveness.
a weak reply to the charges; one of the author's weakest novels.
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lacking in logical or legal force or soundness.
a weak argument.
- Synonyms:
- vague, lame, unsatisfactory, inconclusive, illogical, inadequate, ineffective, unsound
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deficient in mental power, intelligence, or judgment.
a weak mind.
-
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
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deficient in amount, volume, loudness, intensity, etc.; faint; slight.
a weak current of electricity; a weak pulse.
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deficient, lacking, or poor in something specified.
a hand weak in trumps; I'm weak in spelling.
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deficient in the essential or usual properties or ingredients.
weak tea.
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unstressed, as a syllable, vowel, or word.
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(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.
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(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”).
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(of wheat or flour) having a low gluten content or having a poor quality of gluten.
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Photography. thin; not dense.
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Commerce. characterized by a decline in prices.
The market was weak in the morning but rallied in the afternoon.
adjective
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lacking in physical or mental strength or force; frail or feeble
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liable to yield, break, or give way
a weak link in a chain
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lacking in resolution or firmness of character
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lacking strength, power, or intensity
a weak voice
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lacking strength in a particular part
a team weak in defence
-
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not functioning as well as normal
weak eyes
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easily upset
a weak stomach
-
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lacking in conviction, persuasiveness, etc
a weak argument
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lacking in political or strategic strength
a weak state
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lacking the usual, full, or desirable strength of flavour
weak tea
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grammar
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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
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belonging to any part-of-speech class, in any of various languages, whose inflections follow the more regular of two possible patterns Compare strong
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(of a syllable) not accented or stressed
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(of a fuel-air mixture) containing a relatively low proportion of fuel Compare rich
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photog having low density or contrast; thin
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(of an industry, market, currency, securities, etc) falling in price or characterized by falling prices
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overweaknessnoun
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weakishnessnoun
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overweakadjective
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weakishadjective
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overweaklyadverb
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weakishlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of weak
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”
Explanation
Weak is the opposite of strong. Muscles, arguments, defenses, and coffee can all be weak — and when they are, it's not good. Anything weak is lacking in strength or power. If your muscles are weak, you can't lift much. If your will power is weak, you give up easily. Food and drinks with little flavor are weak, and an argument that is flimsy is weak. Whenever anything is lacking or not what it should be, it's weak. And if you come across something really lame — like a dumb TV show — you could say, "That's so weak."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Investors were cautious because a weak reading could further reduce rate-hike prospects while a strong reading would increase them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Some of those affected required hospital treatment, with some students being transported in wheelchairs because they were too weak to stand.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Using precise measurements of each galaxy's redshift, they aligned the weak signals and stacked them together.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
Hiring was unusually weak during the summer, but it may partly reflect changing seasonal patterns of when companies create new jobs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
He was still weak from the fever, and in no state to start a journey.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Sentiment is likely supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and slightly more dovish comments from the U.S. policymakers, tempering rate hike expectations, ANZ Research writes in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
This fiscal stimulus, along with healthy demand for exports, were helping to boost economic expectations while the "dampening effects" of the energy shock were weaker than expected, the Ifo institute said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
As the flow of gas from the cosmic web becomes weaker and gas densities decrease, galaxies may become less efficient at converting HI into molecular hydrogen.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
In reality, they have ended this transfer markedly weaker than when they started it.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
“You’ve seen the captain before,’’ the parrot says, his voice weaker with each word.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
“September’s weakest returns have occurred when the S&P 500 begins the month below its 200-day average, which is not currently the case,” according to a research note from Oppenheimer & Co. over the weekend.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
The operation to buy yen came after the unit hit 163.99 per dollar last month, its weakest since 1986.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
The effect was strongest for liver cancer, where rates were around 69% lower, and weakest – though still substantial – for breast cancer, at 36% lower.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
The people in power—officers and civilians—seem to have ignored the possibility that the enemy would attack our weakest links, in this case the supply hubs.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Backer. Tell us, Backer. Who is the weakest member of this group?”
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
