feckless

adjective

feck·less | \ ˈfek-ləs

\

Definition of feckless

1 : weak, ineffective She can't rely on her feckless son.

2 : worthless, irresponsible a feckless maneuver that could only serve to strengthen the enemy— Simon Schama

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Examples of feckless in a Sentence

She can't rely on her feckless son. a well-intentioned but feckless response to the rise in school violence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Kremlin dared to act in such a brazen way because the West’s response to its campaign in Ukraine so far has been largely feckless. — Adrian Karatnycky, WSJ, "Ukraine Is Moscow’s Guinea Pig," 28 Nov. 2018 Democrats said the Republican resistance had been so feckless, and so thoroughly quashed, as to be mostly useless. — Ezra Klein, Vox, "The fall of the not-quite-Trumpers," 6 Nov. 2018 Right or wrong, plenty of Twitter’s users view Dorsey as a feckless, spineless suit unwilling to address even the most basic problems plaguing his platform. — Parker Molloy, The Verge, "Roasting Jack Dorsey’s beard may be petty, but it’s also part of a time-honored tradition," 7 Sep. 2018 In truth, millennials aren't a uniform cohort of feckless young people. — refinery29.com, "Not An Entitled Millennial: How 4 Young Women Support Their Whole Families," 27 June 2018 But a fine cast (including Bobby Cannavale as Laura’s feckless ex-husband) can’t compensate for the screenplay’s superficial sentimentality and lazy slapstick. That Rolls-Royce is pretty sweet, though. — Shana Feste, New York Times, "Review: A Father and Daughter Renegotiate ‘Boundaries’," 21 June 2018 With the exception of a few Governors like Baker, Hogan and Kasich it is filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders. — Tara Golshan, Vox, "A prominent GOP strategist has left the Republican Party over family separations at the border," 20 June 2018 In this wise, discomfiting novel, a feckless American travels to the west of Ireland, marries into a local family, then looks for love elsewhere. — New York Times, "11 New Books We Recommend This Week," 15 Feb. 2018 And so the feckless schemes of the conservatives realized the violent dreams of the Nazis. — Timothy Snyder, New York Times, "How Did the Nazis Gain Power in Germany?," 14 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'feckless.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

6 Jan 2019

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Time Traveler for feckless

The first known use of feckless was circa 1585

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More Definitions for feckless

feckless

adjective

English Language Learners Definition of feckless

: having or resulting from a weak character or nature

See the full definition for feckless in the English Language Learners Dictionary

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