: lacking willpower or resolution

Examples of weak-kneed in a Sentence

management is too weak-kneed to effectively enforce even a minimal dress code
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Despite the bleak picture painted by Democrats and weak-kneed RINOs that Trump wanted poor people to just die and be done with it, there were reasonable explanations for all the budget changes that had nothing to do with genocide. Frank Miele, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 July 2025 And that’s been a problem — well, at least for discerning, weak-kneed cosmopolitan viewers like me. Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 9 Mar. 2025 Thankfully, the City Council, not our weak-kneed mayor, has the last say. Peter L. Markowitz, New York Daily News, 22 Jan. 2025 Sadly, Pope Paul VI, who succeeded John XIII, was weak-kneed, while John Paul II and Benedict XVI were conservative revanchists. R. R. Reno, Foreign Affairs, 13 Nov. 2018 Someone who, when in command, commands — and isn’t a weak-kneed politician. Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 May 2024 Her yes left her weak-kneed in a more swoony kind of way. Tammy Lagorce, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2024 Ohtani has the most weak-kneed and worthless advisors in the history of advisors. Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024 And yet for three years, as the Assad regime repressed protests and Syria’s uprising morphed into a civil war, the United States has taken a curiously weak-kneed approach to justice and accountability in the conflict. David Kaye, Foreign Affairs, 23 Jan. 2014

Word History

First Known Use

1766, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of weak-kneed was in 1766

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Weak-kneed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weak-kneed. Accessed 3 Aug. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!