weakling
- noun
- /ˈwiːk.lɪŋ/
- Offensive
- He always felt like a weakling compared to his more athletic friends.
And the bully is is actually a weakling.
- And the bully is is actually a weakling.
- I'd like all of you to to pause for a moment, you wretched weaklings, and take stock of your miserable existence.
- You thought if you believed the campaign, you would have thought he was a wimp, some kind of weakling.
- And now we created this, this allied base of weaklings and we're the big bully.
- I don't know if I'm like a weakling and everybody else can squeeze it with no problem, but like I'm like forcing and it's tough.
Examples
-
I married a weakling.
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Do not take me for a fool, let alone a weakling.
Fiction book (1995) -
A beautiful one, but a weakling, to be sure.
Fiction book (1993) -
Why do you gotta turn everything into me being a weakling?
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I felt like a weakling for thinking that, and hated myself for it.
Fiction book (1997) -
This is not a town of weaklings.
-
Chunky was a weakling and never kept a steady job.
Fiction book (1994) -
I'm a coward and a weakling and I can't help meself.
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It makes you feel powerful, like you've just gone from a 98-pound weakling to a bad-ass overnight.
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"The identification of effectiveness with goodness is the tyrant's apology, the Quisling's excuse, and the weakling's plea.
Academic text (1993)
Synonyms
A person who is not brave and avoids difficult things
A person who is weak and lacks courage or strength
A person who others in a group see as the least able or not brave
A person who complains in a weak, cowardly way
How Insulting
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Weakling is made from weak and the ending -ling; weak means 'not strong' and -ling is the same ending you see in duckling, meaning a 'small' or 'young' one. So a weakling is like a 'small weak one', which is why it describes someone who lacks physical strength or power.