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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



... portions of this army can strengthen the regular field army. At the most 150,000 men may be reckoned upon for an English expeditionary force. These troops compose at the same time the reserve of the troops stationed in the Colonies, which require reinforcements at grave crises. This constitutes the weak point in the British armament. England can employ her regular army in a Continental war so long only as all is quiet in the Colonies. This fact brings into prominence how important it will be, should war break ...
— Germany and the Next War • Friedrich von Bernhardi
... may, in its discretion, provide for the compulsory education of children between the ages of eight and twelve years, except such as are weak in body or mind, or can read and write, or are attending private schools, or are excused for cause by ...
— Civil Government of Virginia • William F. Fox
... communication between its organs and some particular part of the skin. It may be conceived that a lateral stroke, out of the direct current, must become imperceptible under the two conditions of a very weak discharge, or a very great obstacle presented by the nature and length of the conductor. Notwithstanding these considerations, it appears to me very surprising that shocks of the torpedo, strong in appearance, are not propagated ...
— Equinoctial Regions of America V2 • Alexander von Humboldt
... notice the shortness of the left arm, but that may have been because his left hand was leaning on his sword-hilt. Captain H—— told me he could not put on his overcoat without assistance, and that the hand is so weak he can do very little with it. There was nothing of a Hohenzollern ...
— William of Germany • Stanley Shaw
... spirit was the more remarkable because his physical organization was unusually delicate. From a child he had been weak and sickly. In the prime of manhood his complaints had been aggravated by a severe attack of small pox. He was asthmatic and consumptive. His slender frame was shaken by a constant hoarse cough. He could not sleep ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay


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