adj.
- lacking physical strength and energy.
- liable to break or give way under pressure.
▸not convincing or forceful.
▸not secure, stable, or firmly established.
▸(of prices or a market) having a downward tendency.
- lacking power, influence, or ability.
▸lacking intensity.
▸(of a liquid or solution) heavily diluted.
▸(of features) not strongly marked.
▸(of a syllable) unstressed.
- Grammar denoting a class of verbs in Germanic languages that form the past tense and past participle by addition of a suffix (in English, typically -ed).
Phrase
- the weaker sex
dated women regarded collectively. - weak at the knees
helpless with emotion.
Derivative
Etymology
OE wāc ‘pliant, of little worth’, ‘not steadfast’, reinforced in ME by ON veikr, from a Gmc base meaning ‘yield, give way’.