weak

adjective

Simple meaning

Lacking in force or ability.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

week

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwik

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability.
Unable to sustain a great weight, pressure, or strain.
Unable to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc.; easily impressed, moved, or overcome; accessible; vulnerable.
Dilute, lacking in taste or potency.
Lacking in vigour or expression.
often with for
Having a strong, irrepressible emotional love for someone or (less often) something; sentimentally affected by such love.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability.

Used this way, weak is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Negative
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Gentle
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Serious and weighty
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

soft , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
adynamic , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use weak

“After being sick, he felt too weak to go for a run.”

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

weak pointweak solutionweak spotrelatively weakweak acidrather weakweak state

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

soft
Lacking strength or resolve.
feeble
Lacking force, vigor, or effectiveness in action or expression.
impotent
Lacking power or ability.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

weaknessnounDerived noun · specialist
A flaw or weak point.
weaklyadverbDerived adverb
In a weak or feeble manner or to a minor degree.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

weakly interacting massive particlenounCompound term
A hypothetical subatomic particle of large mass that interacts weakly with ordinary matter through gravitation.
weak interactionnounCompound term
An interaction between elementary particles involving neutrinos or antineutrinos that is responsible for certain kinds of radioactive decay.
weak forcenounCompound term
An interaction between elementary particles involving neutrinos or antineutrinos that is responsible for certain kinds of radioactive decay.
weak partnounCompound term
A place of especial vulnerability.
weak pointnounCompound term
An attribute that is inadequate or deficient.
weak spotnounCompound term
A place of especial vulnerability.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: lacking in force (usually strength) or ability

faintimpotentsoftInformalfeeblepowerlesspunyenervatedadynamicRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.