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Showing results for weak-kneed. Search instead for weak+kneed.
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

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

"I think I was weak-kneed and tongue tied, but I managed to squeak out 'Your Majesty, it's a great honour to meet you.' I will take those memories to my grave," he said.

From BBC • Sep. 17, 2022

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

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 15, 2021

Hours later, they would return, breathless and weak-kneed and trembling, not understanding where they’d been, but knowing they’d been somewhere too impossible to exist.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby

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.