weak
pronunciation
How to pronounce weak in British English:
UK [wiːk]
How to pronounce weak in American English:
US [wiːk]
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- Adjective:
- having little physical or spiritual strength
- overly diluted; thin and insipid
- lacking power
- used of vowels or syllables; pronounced with little or no stress
- having the attributes of man as opposed to e.g. divine beings
- lacking force; feeble
- lacking physical strength or vitality
- used of verbs having standard (or regular) inflection
- lacking physical strength or vigor
- characterized by excessive softness or self-indulgence
Word Origin
- weak
- weak: [13] Etymologically, something that is weak is ‘bendable’. The word was borrowed from Old Norse veikr. This was descended from prehistoric Germanic *waikwaz, which also produced German weich and Dutch week ‘soft’. And this in turn was formed from *waikw-, *wikw- ‘give way, yield’, a derivative of the base *wik- ‘bend’, which also produced the witch of English witch hazel [16] (etymologically the hazel with ‘bendy’ branches) and possibly English week.
- weak (adj.)
- c. 1300, from Old Norse veikr "weak," cognate with Old English wac "weak, pliant, soft," from Proto-Germanic *waikwa- "yield" (cognates: Old Saxon wek, Swedish vek, Middle Dutch weec, Dutch week "weak, soft, tender," Old High German weih "yielding, soft," German weich "soft"), from PIE root *weik- (4) "to bend, wind" (see vicarious). Sense of "lacking authority" is first recorded early 15c.; that of "lacking moral strength" late 14c. In grammar, denoting a verb inflected by regular syllabic addition rather than by change of the radical vowel, from 1833. Related: Weakly. Weak-kneed "wanting in resolve" is from 1870.
Example
- 1. Firms fearful of weak consumer spending are cautious about investing .
- 2. Pakistan 's government is weak and generally derided .
- 3. This time the opposition campaign has been weak .
- 4. Yet others say the law is too weak .
- 5. But batteries remain the weak point .