weak sauce
noun
US slang
: something inferior, ineffective, or unimpressive : something weak
When it comes to employer-based coverage, the plan wouldn't do much … Honestly, this is weak sauce, and doesn't do much to alter the biggest, and one of the most dysfunctional, parts of the U.S. health care system.—
Pascal Emmanuel Gobry
Pascal Emmanuel Gobry… the laws they're looking at are pretty weak sauce, and their chances of passing are slim.—Matt Baume
Matt BaumeExamples of weak sauce in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The big climax is weak sauce, alas, but those are always a challenge, since so much energy is spent wowing us with earlier kills.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 May 2025
Given that three other cases were targeting Trump for trying to overthrow the 2020 election and refusing to return national security secrets, Bragg’s case seemed like weak sauce.
—TIME, 8 Feb. 2024
That’s weak sauce compared to what Parliament wants, so the chances of this being pushed through to next year are pretty high.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2023
If anything, Norton will regard Pac-12 offensive linemen as weak sauce after facing Georgia’s starters in practice throughout his career.
—Jon Wilner | , oregonlive, 28 Aug. 2023
Chassis components from the Civic compact car lend the HR-V sprightly road manners but its 2.0-liter four-cylinder is weak sauce, and it's made even more joyless given that it's mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission.
—Drew Dorian, Car and Driver, 2 June 2023
Color options are weak sauce.
—Car and Driver, 8 June 2021
In a few words: bureaucratic weak sauce.
—John Canzano, oregonlive, 18 Mar. 2021
As trust busting goes, however, this is unusually weak sauce.
—Jan Dutkiewicz, The New Republic, 6 Jan. 2022
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 May 2025
Given that three other cases were targeting Trump for trying to overthrow the 2020 election and refusing to return national security secrets, Bragg’s case seemed like weak sauce.
—TIME, 8 Feb. 2024
That’s weak sauce compared to what Parliament wants, so the chances of this being pushed through to next year are pretty high.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2023
If anything, Norton will regard Pac-12 offensive linemen as weak sauce after facing Georgia’s starters in practice throughout his career.
—Jon Wilner | , oregonlive, 28 Aug. 2023
Chassis components from the Civic compact car lend the HR-V sprightly road manners but its 2.0-liter four-cylinder is weak sauce, and it's made even more joyless given that it's mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission.
—Drew Dorian, Car and Driver, 2 June 2023
Color options are weak sauce.
—Car and Driver, 8 June 2021
In a few words: bureaucratic weak sauce.
—John Canzano, oregonlive, 18 Mar. 2021
As trust busting goes, however, this is unusually weak sauce.
—Jan Dutkiewicz, The New Republic, 6 Jan. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Weak sauce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weak%20sauce. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share