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Synonyms

weak-kneed

American  
[week-need] / ˈwikˈnid /

adjective

  1. yielding readily to opposition, pressure, intimidation, etc.

weak-kneed British  

adjective

  1. informal yielding readily to force, persuasion, intimidation, etc

"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

Other Word Forms

  • weak-kneedly adverb
  • weak-kneedness noun

Etymology

Origin of weak-kneed

First recorded in 1860–65

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.

Then there are my people, weak-kneed types who, come winter, wonder whether they can survive yet another cold snap.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

The contract went abroad, prompting Port Glasgow's Labour MSP Trish Godman to famously rebuke her own party colleagues in government for their "weak-kneed betrayal of the men and women at Ferguson."

From BBC • Sep. 13, 2025

ByteDance stared it down, though, and bet that U.S. policymakers would get weak-kneed if the ban were actually about to go into effect.

From Slate • Jan. 18, 2025

All of this may help explain the weak-kneed result, but it does not justify it.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 15, 2021

I could just picture him, all weak-kneed, propped up in the phone booth, rambling away.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

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.