weak
Adjektivhäufig in Dialogen
- //wi(ː)k//
- /[wɪik]/
Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability.
Adjektiv
- 1
Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability.
The child was too weak to move the boulder.
They easily guessed his weak computer password.
a poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man
weak with hunger, mad with love
- 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
Guard thy heart / On this weak side, where most our nature fails.
- 5
Having a strong, irrepressible emotional love for someone or (less often) something; sentimentally affected by such love.
'Cause sugar pie, honey bunch You know that I'm weak for you Can't help myself I love you and nobody else
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.
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
Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including: Regular in inflection, lacking vowel changes and having a past tense marked by /-d-/, /-t-/, or /-ð-/.
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.
- 8
Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including: Showing less distinct grammatical endings.
- 9
Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including: Definite in meaning, often used with a definite article or similar word.
- 10
Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including: 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/).
- 11
Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including: 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.
- 12
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).
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 […].
- 13
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). In a grammatical case other than nominative, accusative, vocative or sometimes locative singular.
- 14
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). 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-.
- 15
Lenis, pronounced with less force or less markedness.
- 16
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.
- 17
One of the four fundamental forces associated with nuclear decay.
- 18
SlangBad or uncool.
This place is weak.
- 19
Having a narrow range of logical consequences; narrowly applicable. (Often contrasted with a strong statement which implies it.)
- 20
Resulting from, or indicating, lack of judgment, discernment, or firmness; unwise; hence, foolish.
If evil thence ensue, / She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
- 21
Not having power to convince; not supported by force of reason or truth; unsustained.
The prosecution advanced a weak case.
convinced of his weak arguing
There are two fundamental theorems of calculus. Both relate differentiation to integration. In most calculus courses, the Second Fundamental Theorem is usually proved first and then used to prove the First Fundamental Theorem. Unfortunately, this results in a First Fundamental Theorem that is weaker than it could be.
- 22
Lacking in vigour or expression.
a weak sentence; a weak style
- 23
Not prevalent or effective, or not felt to be prevalent; not potent; feeble.
Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
- 24
Tending towards lower prices.
a weak market; wheat is weak at present
- 25
Lacking contrast.
a weak negative
Herkunft
From Middle English waik, wayk, wayke, weik, weyk, borrowed from Old Norse veikr (“weak”), from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz (“weak, yielded, pliant, bendsome”), from *wīkwaną (“to cease, fold, yield; to retreat”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg- (“to bend, turn, wind”), from *weh₁y- (“to plait, twist, weave, wind; to cover, enclose, wrap”). Cognates Cognate with Old English wāc (“bendsome, weak”), Saterland Frisian wook (“soft, gentle, tender”), West Frisian weak (“soft”), Dutch week (“soft, weak”), German weich (“soft, weak”), Luxembourgish weech (“weak”), Yiddish ווייך (veykh, “soft”), Danish veg (“weak”), Faroese and Icelandic veikur (“weak”), Norwegian Bokmål veik, vek (“weak; pliant”), Norwegian Nynorsk veik (“weak”), Swedish vek (“weak, pliant”), Estonian vaik, vaikne (“quiet”), Finnish vaieta (“to fall silent; to be silent; to keep silent; to suppress by not discussing”), Ingrian vaiketa (“quiet down”); also Cornish gwigh (“winkles”), Irish faocha, faochóg (“periwinkle”), Latin vicis (“change; time; season; succession; lot; place, room, stead”), vieo (“to bend”), Ancient Greek οἴγω (oígō, “to open”), Albanian vig (“bier, litter, stretcher”), Lithuanian vyti (“to twist, wind”), Belarusian віць (vicʹ, “to twist, weave”), Bulgarian ви́я (víja, “to bend, twist; to roam; to swirl”), Czech vít (“to weave, wind; to wrap”), Polish and Upper Sorbian wić (“to plait, weave; to wriggle, writhe”), Russian вить (vitʹ, “to wind; to twist, weave”), Serbo-Croatian ви̏ти, vȉti (“to twist”), Slovene viti (“to twist”), Ukrainian ви́ти (výty, “to twist, wind; to plait; to build a nest; to curl”), Northern Kurdish avêtin, avitin, avîtin, havêtin, havîtin (“to cast, throw”), Persian آویختن (âvixtan, “to hang, suspend”), بیختن (bēxtan / bixtan, “to sift”), Sanskrit वेग (vega, “speed, impetus; stream; agitation; impetuosity; strength; haste; the flight of an arrow; love; delight; expulsion; semen; attack; constipation”). Related to Old English wīcan (“to yield”). Related to week and wick. The grammar sense is a calque of German schwach.
Formen
- Komparativ
- weaker
- Superlativ
- weakest
weak · Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability.
weaken · To make weaker or less strong.weakened · Reduced; made less strong.weaker · Said of one proposition with respect to another one: that the…