HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
adj. weak·er, weak·est 1. Lacking physical strength, energy, or vigor; feeble. 2. Likely to fail under pressure, stress, or strain; lacking resistance: a weak link in a chain. 3. Lacking firmness of character or strength of will: a weak person unable to cope with adversity. 4. a. Lacking intensity or strength; faint: weak light; a weak voice. b. Lacking the proper strength or amount of ingredients: weak coffee. c. Having low prices or few transactions: a weak market for oil stocks. 5. a. Lacking the ability to function normally or fully: a weak heart. b. Unable to digest food easily; readily nauseated: a weak stomach. 6. a. Lacking or resulting from a lack of intelligence: a weak mind; weak reasoning. b. Lacking aptitude or skill: a weak student; weak in math. 7. Lacking persuasiveness; unconvincing: a weak argument. 8. Lacking authority or the power to govern: a weak ruler. 9. Linguistics a. Of, relating to, or being those verbs in Germanic languages that form a past tense and past participle by means of a dental suffix, as start, started; have, had; bring, brought. b. Of, relating to, or being the inflection of nouns or adjectives in Germanic languages with a declensional suffix that historically contained an n. 10. Unstressed or unaccented in pronunciation or poetic meter. Used of a word or syllable. 11. Designating a verse ending in which the metrical stress falls on a word or syllable that is unstressed in normal speech, such as a preposition. [Middle English weike, from Old Norse veikr, pliant; see weik-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Synonyms: weak, feeble, frail1, fragile, infirm, decrepit, debilitated These adjectives mean lacking or showing a lack of strength. Weak is the most widely applicable: "These poor wretches ... were so weak they could hardly sit to their oars" (Daniel Defoe). Feeble suggests pathetic or grievous physical or mental weakness or hopeless inadequacy: a feeble intellect; a feeble effort. Frail implies delicacy and inability to endure or withstand: "an aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small" (Thomas Hardy). What is fragile is easily broken, damaged, or destroyed: a fragile, expensive vase; a fragile state of mind after the accident. Infirm implies enfeeblement: "a poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man" (Shakespeare). Decrepit describes what is weakened, worn out, or broken down by hard use or the passage of time: a decrepit building slated for demolition. Debilitated suggests a gradual impairment of energy or strength: a debilitated constitution further weakened by overwork. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
