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Weak   /wik/   Listen
adjective
Weak  adj.  (compar. weaker; superl. weakest)  
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." "Weak with hunger, mad with love."
(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."
(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." "Origen was never weak enough to imagine that there were two Gods."
(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."
(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."
(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."
(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." "A case so weak... hath much persisted in."
(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."
(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."
(j)
(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).
4.
(Stock Exchange) Tending toward a lower price or lower prices; as, wheat is weak; a weak market.
5.
(Card Playing) Lacking in good cards; deficient as to number or strength; as, a hand weak in trumps.
6.
(Photog.) Lacking contrast; as, a weak negative. 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 conjugation, or regular conjugation, and distinguished from the old conjugation, 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 weak ulcer (Med.), a sore covered with pale, flabby, sluggish granulations.


verb
Weak  v. t. & v. i.  To make or become weak; to weaken. (R.) "Never to seek weaking variety."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Weak" Quotes from Famous Books



... the mines of California, and in the letter were several small flakes of gold wrapped in a bit of paper. We had so long hoped against hope that the sight of the familiar writing caused the greatest excitement. Poor mother could hardly hold out any longer and the news was too much for her weak body, for she was just convalescing from weeks of sickness brought on by hope deferred and waiting and watching each day for a word from the wanderers. We were obliged to refrain for her sake, but we were all like as if news came from the dead—ten long months and no word. After we were ...
— Sixty Years of California Song • Margaret Blake-Alverson
... chills with visionary fears, Or bends to servile tameness with conceits Of shame, of evil, or of base defect, Fantastic and delusive. Here the slave Who droops abash'd when sullen Pomp surveys His humbler habit; here the trembling wretch Unnerved and struck with Terror's icy bolts, Spent in weak wailings, drown'd in shameful tears, At every dream of danger: here, subdued 220 By frontless laughter and the hardy scorn Of old, unfeeling vice, the abject soul, Who, blushing, half resigns the candid praise Of Temperance and Honour; half ...
— Poetical Works of Akenside - [Edited by George Gilfillan] • Mark Akenside
... Government. Whatever the lofty aims of either of the contending hosts, they sought to win by war and this was war. It was not to be wondered at that this spirit should begin to poison the springs of life in the minds of the weak and send them forth to prey on their fellows. It was not to be wondered at that men planned in secret to advance their own interests at the expense of their fellows, to climb the ladder of wealth and fame in this black hour no matter on whose dead ...
— The Southerner - A Romance of the Real Lincoln • Thomas Dixon
... school maintained for the education of Negroes.[1] It was evident that this institution had not been run so clandestinely but that the opposition to the education of Negroes in that city had probably been too weak to bring about the close of the school at an earlier date. Mrs. Douglass and her pupils were arrested and brought before the court, where she was charged with violating the laws of the State. The defendant acknowledged her guilt, but, pleading ignorance of the law, was discharged on the condition ...
— The Education Of The Negro Prior To 1861 • Carter Godwin Woodson
... Yorkers and Bostonians with Jenny Lind are weak and cold compared with the ovations which Jasmin has received. At a recitation given shortly before my visit to Auch, the ladies present actually tore the flowers and feathers out of their bonnets, wove them into ...
— Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist • Samuel Smiles


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