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weakness. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
weakness, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
weakness in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
weakness you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English weykenesse; equivalent to weak + -ness.
Pronunciation
Noun
weakness (countable and uncountable, plural weaknesses)
- (uncountable) The condition of being weak.
In a small number of horses, muscle weakness may progress to paralysis.
- (countable) An inadequate quality; fault
His inability to speak in front of an audience was his weakness.
2013 January 22, Phil McNulty, “Aston Villa 2-1 Bradford (3-4)”, in BBC:Bradford had preyed on Villa's inability to defend set pieces, corners in particular, in their first-leg win and took advantage of the weakness again as Hanson equalised to restore their two-goal aggregate lead.
2020 July 1, Paul Stephen, “Vital Connections”, in Rail, page 41:Such a male-dominated environment is also likely to contribute to the lingering presence of an outdated belief that expressing feelings and demonstrating emotion is a sign of weakness, deterring some men from discussing their problems.
- (countable) A special fondness or desire.
She is an athlete who has a weakness for chocolate.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Translations
condition of being weak
- Arabic: ضَعْف m (ḍaʕf)
- Egyptian Arabic: ضعف m (ḍuʕf)
- Asturian: debilidá f
- Azerbaijani: zəiflik
- Belarusian: сла́басць f (slábascʹ)
- Bulgarian: сла́бост (bg) f (slábost)
- Catalan: debilitat (ca) f, feblesa (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 虛弱/虚弱 (zh) (xūruò), 軟弱/软弱 (zh) (ruǎnruò), 薄弱 (zh) (bóruò)
- Czech: slabost (cs) f
- Danish: svaghed c
- Dutch: zwakte (nl)
- Esperanto: malforto, malforteco
- Finnish: heikkous (fi), voimattomuus (fi)
- French: faiblesse (fr) f
- Galician: debilidade (gl) f, fraqueza f
- Georgian: სისუსტე (sisusṭe), უღონობა (uɣonoba), უძლურება (uʒlureba), უსუსურობა (ususuroba), უნიათობა (uniatoba)
- German: Schwäche (de) f
- Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌹 n (unhaili)
- Greek: αδυναμία (el) f (adynamía)
- Ancient: ἀσθένεια f (asthéneia)
- Ancient Greek: πονηρία (ponēría)
- Hebrew: חולשה f (khulshá)
- Hungarian: gyengeség (hu)
- Ingrian: slaabosti
- Interlingua: debilitate
- Irish: anacmhainn f, aimhneart m, anbhainne f, cloíteacht f, éadaingne f, éagruas m, fainne f, lag m, lagachar m, lagar m, lagbhrí f, laige f, léiriú m, lobhra f, meirbhe f, meirfean m, meirtne f, taise f, time (ga) f, tláithe f, tlás m, tréithe f
- Italian: debolezza (it) f, cagionevolezza f, fievolezza f
- Japanese: 弱さ (ja) (yowasa), 弱小 (ja) (jakushō), 脆弱 (ja) (zeijaku)
- Korean: 약함 (yakham)
- Latin: infirmitās f, debilitās f
- Macedonian: слабост f (slabost)
- Malayalam: ബലഹീനത (ml) (balahīnata), ദുർബലത (ml) (duṟbalata), ക്ഷീണം (ml) (kṣīṇaṁ)
- Maori: hārorerore, māruru
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: svakhet (no) m or f
- Nynorsk: svakheit f
- Occitan: debilitat f, feblesa (oc) f
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: слабость f (slabostĭ)
- Old East Slavic: слабость f (slabostĭ)
- Old English: untrumnes f
- Polish: słabość (pl) f
- Portuguese: fraqueza (pt) f
- Russian: сла́бость (ru) f (slábostʹ)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: слабост f
- Roman: slabost (sh) f
- Slovak: slabosť f
- Slovene: šibkost f
- Spanish: debilidad (es) f, flaqueza (es) f
- Swahili: ajizi (sw)
- Swedish: svaghet (sv) c
- Tagalog: kahinaan
- Thai: ความอ่อนแอ (kwaam òn ae)
- Turkish: sıskalık (tr), zayıflık (tr), argınlık (tr), çelimsizlik (tr)
- Ukrainian: сла́бість f (slábistʹ), сла́бкість f (slábkistʹ)
- Walloon: flåwté (wa) f, flåwisté (wa) f, fweblesse (wa) f
- Welsh: gwendid (cy)
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fault
- Asturian: debilidá f
- Belarusian: недахо́п (be) m (njedaxóp), недахва́т m (njedaxvát)
- Bulgarian: недостатък (bg) m (nedostatǎk)
- Catalan: debilitat (ca) f, feblesa (ca) f
- Czech: slabina (cs)
- Finnish: heikkous (fi)
- French: faiblesse (fr) f, point faible (fr) m
- Old French: feblece f
- Interlingua: debilitate
- Irish: éalang f, fágáil f
- Italian: debolezza (it) f, punto debole (it) m, tallone di Achille m
- Japanese: 弱点 (ja) (jakuten), 弱み (ja) (yowami), 泣き所 (nakidokoro)
- Korean: 약점 (ko) (yakjeom)
- Latin: infirmitas f
- Malay: kelemahan (ms)
- Malayalam: ബലഹീനത (ml) (balahīnata), ദുർബലത (ml) (duṟbalata)
- Old English: untrumnes f
- Portuguese: ponto fraco m, fraqueza (pt) f
- Russian: недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok)
- Slovene: slabost (sl) f
- Spanish: punto débil m
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Further reading
- “weakness”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “weakness”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.