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weak

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Weäk

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English weyk, wayk, weik, waik, borrowed from Old Norse veikr (“weak”), from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz (“weak, yielded, pliant, bendsome”), of uncertain origin.

Cognate with Old English wāc (“weak, bendsome”), Saterland Frisian wook (“soft, gentle, tender”), West Frisian weak (“soft”), Dutch week (“soft, weak”), German weich (“weak, soft”), Norwegian veik (“weak”), Swedish vek (“weak, pliant”), Icelandic veikur (“bendsome, weak”). Related to Old English wīcan (“to yield”). Related to week and wick.[1]

The grammar sense is a calque of German schwach.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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weak (comparative weaker, superlative weakest)

  1. Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability.
    The child was too weak to move the boulder.
    They easily guessed his weak computer password.
  2. Unable to sustain a great weight, pressure, or strain.
    a weak timber; a weak rope
  3. Limp, soft.
  4. Unable to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc.; easily impressed, moved, or overcome; accessible; vulnerable.
    weak resolutions; weak virtue
    • 1703, Nicholas Rowe, The Fair Penitent, act I, scene I:
      Guard thy heart / On this weak side, where most our nature fails.
  5. (often with for) Having a strong, irrepressible emotional love for someone or (less often) something; sentimentally affected by such love.
    • 2065 April 23, “I Can't Help Myself”, in Four Tops Second Album, performed by The Four Tops:
      'Cause sugar pie, honey bunch
      You know that I'm weak for you
      Can't help myself
      I love you and nobody else
    • 2006 April 3, “Lips Of An Angel”, in Extreme Behavior, performed by Hinder:
      It’s really good to hear your voice
      Sayin' my name, it sounds so sweet
      Comin' from the lips of an angel
      Hearin' those words, it makes me weak
  6. Dilute, lacking in taste or potency.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
    We were served stale bread and weak tea.
  7. (grammar)
    English Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia
    Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including:
    Antonym: strong
    1. (Germanic languages, of verbs) Regular in inflection, lacking vowel changes and having a past tense marked by /-d-/, /-t-/, or /-ð-/.
      Coordinate terms: strong, irregular
      The verb to walk is weak because it has a past tense of walked and all forms are inflected by adding the typical suffix (ie is regular) to the stem walk- (ie has no vowel changes).
      The verb to run is strong, not weak, because the past tense is ran.
      The verb to be is neither weak nor strong, instead it is highly irregular in all inflections; its third person present tense is is instead of *bes (which can even be seen in this very sentence) and its past tense is was or were instead of *bed or *beed or anything similar, just to name a few of its inflections.
    2. (Germanic languages, of nouns) Showing less distinct grammatical endings.
    3. (Germanic languages, of adjectives) Definite in meaning, often used with a definite article or similar word.
    4. (Semitic languages) Related to, containing, or being a consonant which is prone to disappearing in some inflections, in most applicable languages including (but not limited to) w and y.
      In some Semitic languages such as Akkadian, some or all gutturals are weak and often disappear, but in others such as Arabic and Ugaritic, they are strong and never disappear.
      The reflexes of the Proto-Semitic verb *mawut- (“to die”) are often weak due to the presence of w, for example: Arabic مَاتَ (māta), Hebrew מֵת (mēṯ), and Ugaritic 𐎎𐎚 (mt /⁠māta⁠/).
    5. (Uralic languages) Related to, being, or containing the lenis consonant gradation, which resulted from historically closed syllables.
      The Finnish verb kääntää (“to translate”) inflects to the singular imperative as käännä, showing the weak gradation nt > nn because it historically ended in a consonant which closed the syllable.
  8. (Indo-European studies, especially of stems or inflected roots) Of a form in which the accent tends to shift forwards (to the right, in transcription) or did so ancestrally in Proto-Indo-European, relative to the strong stem (which has the leftmost accent allowed).
    Antonym: strong
    • 2007, James Clackson, Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction‎[2], Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, section 3.5, page 79:
      Paradigmatic slots in which the accent and correlating e-grade are positioned further to the left of the word are traditionally termed strong, those with accent and e-grade further to the right, are called weak. In all nouns and verbs which show these alternations, the strong and the weak forms are predictable from the morphological category […].
    The PIE zero grade was most often found in weak stems, such as in *mn̥téys (“of thought, from thinking”, genitive/ablative singular of *méntis) and *mn̥yóh₂er (“I am thinking”). Over time it spread to strong stems, i.e. *mń̥tis, by processes of analogy and leveling. The full grade was persistent in the first syllable of reduplicated stative verbs: strong *tetórph₂e (“I am satisfied”), weak *tetr̥pmé (“we all are satisfied”), though for some verbs such as *pí-ph₃-e- (“to drink”) there was an unusual i-grade which may have lacked any distinct weak counterpart.
    1. (of nouns and adjectives) In a grammatical case other than nominative, accusative, vocative or sometimes locative singular.
    2. (of verbs) In a conjugation other than singular active forms (regardless of person, tense etc.).
      All middle forms of Indo-European verbs are traditionally weak. Middle-only verbs can still be compared to hypothetical strong stems, such as weak *ǵn̥h₁-yé- (e.g. *ǵn̥h₁yéto, “(he/she/it) was born”) versus strong *ǵénh₁-ye-.
  9. (phonology) Lenis, pronounced with less force or less markedness.
  10. (chemistry) That does not ionize completely into anions and cations in a solution.
    a weak acid;  a weak base
    When we say that an acid is weak, we refer only to its degree of dissociation, not to its degree of corrosiveness; but it is true that those two traits often correlate, though.
  11. (physics) One of the four fundamental forces associated with nuclear decay.
  12. (slang) Bad or uncool.
    This place is weak.
  13. (mathematics, logic) Having a narrow range of logical consequences; narrowly applicable. (Often contrasted with a strong statement which implies it.)
  14. Resulting from, or indicating, lack of judgment, discernment, or firmness; unwise; hence, foolish.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      If evil thence ensue, / She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
  15. Not having power to convince; not supported by force of reason or truth; unsustained.
    The prosecution advanced a weak case.
  16. Lacking in vigour or expression.
    a weak sentence; a weak style
    • 2012 December 15, Ann Hornaday, “‘The Hobbit’ Is Long, Feels Even Longer”, in Valley News, volume 61, number 190, page C3, column 4:
      It could turn out that An Unexpected Journey is the weakest of this trilogy, the necessary preamble before less-stultifying action and more engaging character development ensue. But, to paraphrase the sweet and stout-hearted Bilbo himself, this adventure won’t just make you late for dinner. It might make you miss breakfast and lunch, too. Only the most dedicated Middle-earthers will find that the hunger pangs are worth it.
  17. Not prevalent or effective, or not felt to be prevalent; not potent; feeble.
  18. (stock market) Tending towards lower prices.
    a weak market; wheat is weak at present
  19. (photography) Lacking contrast.
    a weak negative

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “weak”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

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West Frisian

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Etymology

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From Old Frisian wāk, from Proto-West Germanic *waikw.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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weak

  1. (Clay) soft

Inflection

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Inflection of weak
uninflected weak
inflected weake
comparative weaker
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial weak weaker it weakst
it weakste
indefinite c. sing. weake weakere weakste
n. sing. weak weaker weakste
plural weake weakere weakste
definite weake weakere weakste
partitive weaks weakers —

Alternative forms

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Further reading

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  • “weak (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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