weak-kneed
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
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
Barnum-style marketing hype and the weak-kneed safety regulators who seem not to care.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2022
In the corridor a few weak-kneed, pasty-faced students were making their way to and from the bathrooms, and a group of silent Helpers worked double-duty to keep the floors mopped.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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.
