weak

[ week ]
/ wik /

adjective, weak·er, weak·est.

Origin of weak

1250–1300; Middle English weik < 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

SYNONYMS FOR weak

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.

OTHER WORDS FROM weak

o·ver·weak, adjective o·ver·weak·ly, adverb o·ver·weak·ness, noun

Example sentences from the Web for weak

British Dictionary definitions for weak

weak
/ (wiːk) /

adjective

Derived forms of weak

weakish, adjective weakishly, adverb weakishness, noun

Word Origin for weak

Old English wāc soft, miserable; related to Old Saxon wēk, Old High German weih, Old Norse veikr

Idioms and Phrases with weak

weak