weaken

play

verb weak·en \ˈwē-kən\

Definition of weaken

weakened

;

weakening

play \ˈwēk-niŋ, ˈwē-kə-\

transitive verb
1 : to make weak : lessen the strength of
2 : to reduce in intensity or effectiveness
intransitive verb
: to become weak

weakener

play \ˈwēk-nər, ˈwē-kə-\ noun

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Examples of weaken in a Sentence

The disease weakens the immune system.
Some are concerned that the increase in taxes will weaken the economy.
The beams had been weakened by water damage.
efforts to weaken environmental laws
The recent setbacks have not weakened our resolve.
These kinds of contradictions weaken your argument.
The disease causes the immune system to weaken.
The dollar has continued to weaken against the euro.
Lower interest rates have weakened the dollar.

Recent Examples of weaken from the Web

Hurricane Fernanda weakened slightly from a Category 4 storm to a Category 3 with winds of 125 mph as of Sunday afternoon.

— leigh morgan, AL.com, "Hurricane center keeping an eye on tropical wave in Atlantic," 16 July 2017
Though sensible, this looks to officials in Berlin like a bid to divide Europe and weaken Germany’s leverage over its neighbours.

— The Economist, "Teutonic tremorsGermany fears Donald Trump will divide Europe," 15 July 2017
Without a rigorous probe of Russia’s current influence over our government, the revolutionary system of checks and balances that define the American project will be weakened, if not irrevocably damaged.

— lauren duca, Teen Vogue, "But His Emails! The Donald Trump Jr. Revelations Make It Impossible to Dismiss the Russia Scandal," 12 July 2017
Popular legislation that would limit President Donald Trump's ability to lift financial sanctions on Russia is mired in a partisan dispute in the House, with Democrats charging that a recent change would weaken the bill.

— chicagotribune.com, "House Democrats stall Russia sanctions bill aimed at restraining Trump," 10 July 2017
Republicans hit another roadblock on Monday in their quest to repeal or weaken recent environmental rules restricting methane emissions.

— robinson meyer, The Atlantic, "The First Court Victory for Environmentalists Under Trump," 5 July 2017
The magnetic field, now supplied by graceful hoops of wire encircling the blimp, weakens to a mere six times Earth's field as the field lines spread out.

— adrian cho, Science | AAAS, "Weighing the universe's most elusive particle," 29 June 2017
Stand-your-ground laws are a favorite of the NRA gun lobby and their push to weaken our nation’s gun laws.

— lucy mcbath, Cosmopolitan, "The NRA's Silence on Philando Castile's Death Is Shameful," 23 June 2017
Cindy has weakened and has been downgraded to a tropical depression by the National Hurricane Center.

— leigh morgan, AL.com, "Tropical Storm Cindy makes landfall in Louisiana, weakens to depression," 22 June 2017

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

First Known Use of weaken

1530

Synonym Discussion of weaken

weaken, enfeeble, debilitate, undermine, sap, cripple, disable mean to lose or cause to lose strength or vigor. weaken may imply loss of physical strength, health, soundness, or stability or of quality, intensity, or effective power. a disease that weakens the body's defenses enfeeble implies a condition of marked weakness and helplessness. enfeebled by starvation debilitate suggests a less marked or more temporary impairment of strength or vitality. the debilitating effects of surgery undermine and sap suggest a weakening by something working surreptitiously and insidiously. a poor diet undermines your health drugs had sapped his ability to think cripple implies causing a serious loss of functioning power through damaging or removing an essential part or element. crippled by arthritis disable suggests bringing about impairment or limitation in a physical or mental ability. disabled by an injury sustained at work