sad sack
- a pathetically inept person, especially a soldier, who continually blunders in spite of good intentions.
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Origin of sad sack
after the cartoon character created in 1942 by U.S. cartoonist George Baker (1915–75)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sad sack
Contemporary Examples of sad sack
Her sad-sack ex, currently busy haunting Chapel Hill bars, continues to escape any real blame.
sad sack
- US slang an inept person who makes mistakes despite good intentions
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Word Origin for sad sack
C20: from a cartoon character created by G. Baker, US cartoonist
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Idioms and Phrases with sad sack
sad sack
A singularly inept person, as in Poor George is a hopeless sad sack. This term alludes to a cartoon character, Sad Sack, invented by George Baker in 1942 and representing a soldier in ill-fitting uniform who failed at whatever he tried to do. It was soon transferred to clumsily inept civilians.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.