Weakling
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A person of weak or even sickly physical constitution.
"“Mon Dieu!” he soliloquized, “but they are all alike. Cheating, murdering, lying, fighting, and all for things that the beasts of the jungle would not deign to possess—money to purchase the effeminate pleasures of weaklings. And yet withal bound down by silly customs that make them slaves to their unhappy lot while firm in the belief that they be the lords of creation enjoying the only real pleasures of existence."
- 2 a person who is physically weak and ineffectual wordnet
- 3 A person of weak character, lacking in courage and/or moral strength. figuratively
"c.1551, Hugh Latimer, a sermon in Lincolnshire We may not be weaklings because we have a strong enemy."
- 1 weak, either physically, morally or mentally
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"A strong veteran, having trained for tens of years, can fall to a weakling in a moment of laxness. That's what the martial arts world is."
Etymology
From weak + -ling.
Related phrases
More for "weakling"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.