weaken
Americanverb (used with object)
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- Synonyms:
- invalidate, minimize, impair, reduce, lower, diminish, lessen, deplete, exhaust, sap, undermine, enervate, debilitate, enfeeble
- Antonyms:
- strengthen
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Phonetics. to change (a speech sound) to an articulation requiring less effort, as from geminate to nongeminate or from stop to fricative.
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of weaken
Explanation
To weaken is to become less powerful or strong. When a storm weakens, the wind dies down and the torrential rain becomes a light drizzle. If you weaken physically, your strength diminishes: "I did great at the start of the obstacle course, but my arms began to weaken toward the end and I couldn't climb that last wall." You can also weaken in resolve or spirit, like when your sister's criticism of your art project weakens your confidence about including it in an exhibition. This verb comes from weak and its Germanic root meaning "yield" or "soft."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A slower pace of rate increases, Powell has said, could help the Fed achieve a tricky feat: Weaken the economy enough to tame inflation, without undermining it so much as to cause a deep recession.
From Washington Times • Jun. 21, 2023
Powell reiterated that the Fed still hopes to pull off a tricky feat: Weaken the economy enough to tame inflation, without undermining it so much as to cause a deep recession.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 20, 2023
As the author of the article “More Than a Century of Efforts to Weaken Life Insurance Reserves,” he can compare today’s captive-reinsurance phenomenon with other skirt-the-rules tactics dating all the way back to 1863.
From New York Times • Apr. 11, 2015
One song, "It's a Great Life If You Don't Weaken" has a chance of being a hit.
From Time Magazine Archive
Weaken his power to carry an idea, and his will grows correspondingly weak; the will must follow the idea; it is not a separate entity--will only exists in partnership with the idea.
From Freedom Talks No. II by Seton, Julia, M.D.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
