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weakly

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weakly¹

  • /ˈwiːkli/

Sounds like weekly · Rhymes with -iːk.li

Where it comes from

From Old English wāclīċe (“weakly”), equivalent to weak + -ly (adjectival suffix); compare Old English wāclīċ (“weak; ignoble; mean”), and Old Norse veikligr (“weakly; sick”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waikalīkaz (“weakly; weak”).

adjective weaklier · weakliest

  1. Frail, sickly or of a delicate constitution; weak. I lay in weakly case and confined to my bed for four months before I was able to rise and health returned to me.

weakly²

  • /ˈwiːkli/

Sounds like weekly · Rhymes with -iːk.li

Where it comes from

From Middle English weykly, equivalent to weak + -ly (adverbial suffix). Compare Old High German weihlīcho (“weakly”), Middle English wocliche, wokli, wacliche (both from Proto-Germanic *waikalīkō).

adverb more weakly · most weakly

  1. With little strength or force. The basitemporal platform is flat in posterior view because the mamillar tuberosities are very weakly developed.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: frail, feeble, infirm, decrepit, sapless, faintly, badly, poorly, thinly, low-level, shallowly, slowly, modestly, inadequately, slightly, minor

Translations

Every language

adv with little strength or force

Españoldébilmente, caducamente
Portuguêsdebilmente
Françaisfaiblement
Русскийсла́бо slábo

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MLA

"weakly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/weakly. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

weakly. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/weakly

Chicago

"weakly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/weakly.

BibTeX
@misc{weakly_2026,
  title = {weakly},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/weakly},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}