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feckless

feckless

14 8.6
Shows little care or effort and fails to do things well
  • adjective
  • /ˈfɛkləs/
  • Offensive
translation icon : inepto
  • The committee's feckless response to the crisis left many people disappointed.

And then Joe Biden, this feckless man, was left to just wing it.

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Examples

  • How are you gonna figure it out with this kind of feckless approach?

  • A world ravaged by war and poverty led by feckless fear mongers.

  • If we let this happen in our name, we are a feckless country.

  • We can look forward to more attacks and an Iranian bomb under this feckless administration.

    Blog text (9)
  • What a feckless, inconsiderate man.

  • Without this understanding, there is a significant risk that management actions will be wasteful or feckless.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Sooner rather than later, we're going to look back on TikTok and how feckless and how naive we were.

  • The poor become either deserving or feckless, thereby absolving society from responsibility for any who can be seen as leeching its resources.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Alas for Anna, who had no inkling that her feckless self-indulgence was imperiling the fate of democracy!

    Academic text (1999)
  • So much for the vaunted "re-start" promised by Obama, hapless Joe Biden, and the feckless Hillary Clinton.

    Blog text (18)

Synonyms

weak
vsfeckless
312 1.5

Not strong in will and easily gives in to pressure

lacks determination and personal strength, causing ineffectiveness
irresponsible
vsfeckless
203 3.2

Not thinking about what will happen after you act

lacks responsibility and fails to act reliably
careless
vsfeckless
79 2.8

A lack of thought about possible danger or consequences

fails from lacking responsibility and inner resolve rather than carelessness alone
feeble
vsfeckless
27 3.7

Not strong or effective in producing results

is ineffective because of lacking will and responsibility
wishy-washy
vsfeckless
  • Informal
12 7.3

Not firm or brave when making decisions

lacks firm purpose, so actions often prove ineffective
lackadaisical
vsfeckless
5 8.6

Showing little energy or interest and doing things slowly and carelessly

is more about laziness than moral weakness or responsibility failure
irresolute
vsfeckless
1 8.2

Not able to make clear decisions quickly

tends to lack steady resolve and so fails to follow through
wimpish
vsfeckless
  • Offensive
1 7.9

Not brave or strong enough to face difficult things

has weaker character and often fails to take necessary action
faineant
vsfeckless
  • Archaic
9.9

Not willing to work or make effort

is less about simple idleness and more about missing responsibility

Antonyms

986 3.1

Produces the intended result, for example a speech or medicine

973 2.4

In charge of someone or something and must take care of it

399 2.5

Wanting strongly to do something and not giving up

How Responsible

responsible
973 2.4
careless
14 1.0
feckless
  • Offensive
14 8.6
reckless
193 3.6

Surface Forms

feckless positive

Morphology

feckless = feck (semi-transparent) = feck + less

Formation from 'feck' + '-less' is regular, but 'feck' is an obscure Scots noun so learners may not know the base meaning 'effectiveness'.

Etymology

Feckless comes from an old Scottish word feck meaning 'effect' or 'value', the same idea behind the English word effect. With the -less part meaning 'without', feckless literally means 'without effect', which is why it describes someone or something weak, ineffective, or irresponsible.