weak sauce

American

[week saws] / ˈwik ˈsɔs /

Or weaksauce

noun

Slang.

something that is weak, inadequate, inferior, etc. (often used attributively): I got a pretty weak sauce response to my complaint.

His jokes are mostly weak sauce.
I got a pretty weak sauce response to my complaint.

Etymology

Origin of weak sauce

First recorded in 2005–10

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.

Even by his low standards of chest-thumping, this lie was weak sauce.

From Salon • Oct. 20, 2023

"I still don’t know what the president said," Mehta said at the Aug. 28 hearing, adding that the evidence in support of Navarro's claims was "pretty weak sauce."

From Reuters • Sep. 5, 2023

If anything, Norton will regard Pac-12 offensive linemen as weak sauce after facing Georgia’s starters in practice throughout his career.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 28, 2023

As an explanatory endeavour, it was weak sauce.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2023

Sorry, but this is weak sauce from Google.

From The Verge • Nov. 5, 2020

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023