# weak

Pronunciation: say "WEEK" /wiːk/

## Adjective

1. Lacking in physical strength, force, or the ability to do something.
   - Simple: Not strong, without much power, force, or ability.
   - _Months in the hospital bed left her muscles weak and thin._
   - _A weak grip made it hard for him to open the jar._
2. Not strong, prevalent, or effective; lacking in power or noticeable presence.
   - Simple: Not strong or effective, not widespread, or hard to feel or notice.
   - _The phone's weak signal kept dropping the call._
   - _Demand for the product stayed weak throughout the year._
3. Not able to support a great weight, pressure, or strain without giving way.
   - Simple: Not able to hold up heavy weight or pressure without breaking.
   - _Engineers warned that the weak supports could collapse under heavy snow._
   - _The shelf was too weak to bear the stack of encyclopedias._
4. Having little ability, skill or knowledge in a certain subject or activity.
   - Simple: Not good at a subject or activity because you know little about it or have little skill.
   - _Students who are weak in algebra can sign up for free tutoring after school._
   - _His French is still weak, so he lets his wife do the talking when they visit Paris._
5. Easily moved, tempted, or persuaded; unable to resist pressure or temptation.
   - Simple: Easily tempted or persuaded, and not able to say no or stay firm.
   - _Too weak to resist the salesman's pitch, he signed the contract._
   - _She knew she was weak in the face of flattery._
6. Lacking the power to convince; not supported by sound reasoning or solid evidence.
   - Simple: Not able to convince others because it is not backed by good reasons.
   - _The prosecution's case was weak, resting on a single unreliable witness._
   - _Critics called the report weak because it ignored the most important data._
7. Dilute and lacking in flavor or strength, as a drink with too much water added.
   - Simple: Not strong in taste, usually because too much water was added.
   - _The soup was disappointingly weak, more like flavored water than broth._
   - _He brews his coffee weak, just a pale brown in the cup._
8. Bad, unimpressive, or distinctly uncool. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Bad, disappointing, or not cool.
   - _Bailing on us at the last minute was a weak move._
   - _The sequel was weak compared to the original._
9. Lacking in vigor or expression, as writing or a performance that feels dull and flat.
   - Simple: Not lively or full of feeling, just dull and flat.
   - _The essay's weak prose failed to stir any emotion in readers._
   - _His delivery was weak, the lines mumbled without conviction._
10. Of a market, security, or commodity: tending toward lower prices.
   - Simple: Describing a market or price that is falling or likely to fall.
   - _Trading was weak throughout the session, with most shares closing lower._
   - _The currency remained weak against the dollar amid falling export figures._
11. Showing or resulting from a lack of judgment or firmness; unwise and foolish.
   - Simple: Showing poor judgment or a lack of good sense, and not wise.
   - _Handing over the keys was a weak move that cost the company dearly._
   - _Their weak leadership let small problems grow into a crisis._
12. Filled with a strong, irrepressible love for someone or, less often, something; deeply moved by that love.
   - Simple: Feeling a deep, helpless love for someone or something.
   - _Every time she smiled at him across the room, he felt weak with love._
   - _Writing her name in the margins of his notebook, he knew he was hopelessly weak for the girl next door._
13. Designating one of the four fundamental forces of nature, responsible for certain forms of nuclear decay.
   - Simple: Describing the fundamental force that controls certain kinds of radioactive decay in atoms.
   - _The weak force governs the beta decay of unstable atomic nuclei._
   - _Compared with electromagnetism, the weak interaction operates over an extremely short range._
14. Of an acid, base, or electrolyte: forming ions only partly when dissolved in solution.
   - Simple: Describing an acid or base that only partly breaks apart into charged particles in water.
   - _Acetic acid is a weak acid that only partially ionizes in water._
   - _Ammonia behaves as a weak base, leaving most of its molecules intact in solution._
15. Of an image, negative, or print: lacking contrast between light and dark tones.
   - Simple: Describing a photo or image that shows little difference between light and dark areas.
   - _The negative came out weak, with shadows and highlights blending into flat gray._
   - _A weak print lacks the punch that strong tonal separation provides._
16. Describing a syllable, or a form of a word, that is spoken unstressed and usually with a reduced vowel, as in normal flowing speech.
   - Simple: Said lightly and with no stress, as many parts of words and short words are in everyday speech.
   - _Many function words, such as "of" and "to," have a weak form that speakers use in rapid conversation._
   - _Learners who give every syllable full stress sound stiff, because English rhythm depends on weak syllables._
17. Of a verb: forming its past tense and past participle with a -d or -t ending (play, played; keep, kept) rather than by a change of the stem vowel alone, as in sing, sang.
   - Simple: Describing a verb that adds -d or -t to make its past forms, like play and played or keep and kept.
   - _Verbs like 'play' and 'jump' are weak, taking a regular -ed ending in the past._
   - _Over the centuries English turned many strong verbs into weak ones, so 'help' now has 'helped' instead of the old 'holp'._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Of a statement or claim: asserting less than a stronger one, so that it follows from the stronger claim but does not imply it.
- (adjective) In grammar, of a noun or adjective: having the set of endings (the weak declension) that marks case less distinctly, used in languages such as German especially after a definite article or similar word.

## Origin

From Middle English weyk, from Old Norse veikr ("weak"), from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz ("weak, pliant, bendable"), from the Proto-Indo-European root *weyk- ("to bend, wind"). It is related to Old English wāc ("weak, bendable") and German weich ("soft"), and also to week and dialectal wick ("corner").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/weak (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).