weak

adj

1. frail, fragile, breakable, delicate; unstable, unsteady, unsubstantial; flimsy, jerry-built, gimcrack, rickety, ramshackle, dilapidated, falling apart or down, tumble-down, decayed, rotten.

2. feeble, puny, nonmuscular, nonathletic, enervated, enervate, anemic, Pathol. atonic, Pathol. asthenic, Pathol. neurasthenic; dropping, languid, languishing, limp, flagging, Dial. limpsy, tired, worn-out, about to drop, exhausted, spent, effete; ailing, indisposed, infirm, sickly, weakly, valetudinarian, in poor health, unwell, unhealthy, debilitated, invalid, bedridden; faltering, shaky, doddering, tottering, trembling, senile, anile, decrepit, Inf. dotty; the worse for wear, declining, failing, on one's last legs, going downhill, on the way out, fading, sinking, dying.

3. impotent, impuissant, powerless, helpless; ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, inefficient, incapable, incompetent, inept, inapt, feckless; unavailing, futile, inutile, useless, hopeless, bootless, nugatory, good for nothing.

4. trifling, trivial, insignificant, meager, mere, piddling, paltry, niggling, worthless, Archaic. seely; inadequate, insufficient, deficient, wanting, lacking, short.

5. lame, shallow, childish, puerile, sophomoric, superficial, vapid, empty, half-baked, Sl. half-assed, Sl. for the birds; unconvincing, untenable, unbelievable, inconclusive; loose, lax, illogical; unsound, ungrounded, unsupported, unsustained; poor, inferior, unsatisfactory, not up to snuff or par; careless, slipshod, shoddy, sloppy, miserable, Inf. lousy.

6. weak-minded, feeble-minded, dim-witted, soft or weak in the head, balmy, Brit. barmy, Inf. daffy; dull-witted, slow-witted, retarded, imbecilic, moronic, unintelligent, stupid, Inf. dumb; simple-minded, simple, foolish, silly, idiotic, asinine. See also feeble-minded.

7. irresolute, wishy-washy, shilly-shallying, tergiversating, indecisive, noncommittal, hedging, mealy-mouthed, weasel-worded; spineless, weak-kneed, lily-livered, white-livered, faint-hearted, Inf. chicken-hearted, Inf. chicken-livered, Inf. yellow, Sl. yellow-bellied, Sl. candy-assed; timorous, craven, timid, meek, pusillanimous; sissyish, effeminate, unmanly, womanish, Inf. pantywaist, Sl. old-womanish.

8. faint, low, whispered, muffled, stifled, barely detectable, imperceptible, inaudible, distant, faraway; soft, gentle, dulcet, muted; dim, pale, dull, faded, washed out; slight, slim, thin, slender, tiny, small, wee, bit or ghost of a; vague, ambiguous, nebulous, indistinct, unclear, blurred, blurry, hazy, foggy, obscure.

9. thin, watery, runny, watered-down, diluted, cut, stretched, attenuated, (of liquor) Scot. shilpit; pappy, paplike, milk-and-water, soppy, sodden; insipid, jejune, pallid, Sl. nothing, Sl. blah; bland, tasteless, unappetizing, unsavory, flavorless, inedible; flat, stale, dead, Fr. fade.