Meanings
present singular third person weakens · participle present weakening · participle past weakened · past weakened
- transitiveTo make weaker or less strong.
weaken a bond
1 more example
weaken a joint
Synonyms: emasculate
- intransitiveTo become weaker or less strong.
Over the years my enthusiasm for the job has weakened.
1 more example
My friends, we are confronted with a serious situation. But it is typical of the security problems of the world today. Powerful and aggressive forces are constantly probing, now here, now there, to see whether the free world is weakened. In the face of this, there are no easy choices available. It is misleading for anyone to imply that there are. However, the present situation, though serious, is by no means desperate or hopeless.
1958, President Dwight Eisenhower, 3:06 from the start, in President Eisenhower Speaks On The Formosa Situation (1958), British Pathé
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make weaker or less strong.
More synonyms by meaning
verbdestroy property or hinder normal operations
verbreduce the level or intensity or size or scope of
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian ослабям, правя слаб
- ослабям (oslabjam)to make weaker
- правя слабto make weaker
- отслабвам (otslabvam)to become weaker
Catalan debilitar, afeblir
- debilitarto make weaker
- afeblirto make weaker
- debilitar-seto become weaker
- afeblir-seto become weaker
Chinese Mandarin 削弱, 減弱 /减弱
- 削弱 (xuēruò)to make weaker
- 減弱 /减弱 (jiǎnruò)to make weaker
- 削弱 (xuēruò)to become weaker
- 減弱 /减弱 (jiǎnruò)to become weaker
Czech oslabit
- oslabitto make weaker
Dutch verzwakken, verzwakken
- verzwakkento make weaker
- verzwakkento become weaker
Finnish heikentää, heikentyä
- heikentääto make weaker
- heikentyäto become weaker
- heiketäto become weaker
French affaiblir, s'affaiblir
- affaiblirto make weaker
- s'affaiblirto become weaker
German schwächen, abschwächen
- schwächento make weaker
- abschwächento make weaker
- schwächelnto become weaker
Hebrew החליש
- החליש (hechlish)to make weaker
Hungarian gyengít, gyengül
- gyengítto make weaker
- gyengülto become weaker
Italian indebolire, spossare
- indebolireto make weaker
- spossareto make weaker
- indebolirsito become weaker
Japanese 弱くする, 弱くなる
- 弱くする (yowaku suru)to make weaker
- 弱くなる (yowaku naru)to become weaker
- 衰える (otoroeru)to become weaker
- 弱気になる (yowaki ni naru)to become weaker
Latin debilito, infirmo
- debilitoto make weaker
- infirmoto make weaker
- labefactōto make weaker
- ēnervōto make weaker
- infirmorto become weaker
Latvian vājināt
- vājinātto make weaker
Māori whakaeo, whakaruhi
- whakaeoto make weaker
- whakaruhito make weaker
- whakamakuhaneto make weaker
- whakangoikoreto make weaker
- whakaiwikoreto make weaker
- tāmōmōto make weaker
- kōngengeto become weaker
- ngongoheto become weaker
- taeroto become weaker
Polish osłabiać, osłabić
- osłabiaćto make weaker
- osłabićto make weaker
- słabnąćto become weaker
- osłabnąćto become weaker
- bezsilniećto become weaker
Portuguese enfraquecer, enfraquecer
- enfraquecerto make weaker
- enfraquecerto become weaker
Romanian slăbi
- slăbito become weaker
Russian ослабля́ть, осла́бить
- ослабля́ть (oslabljátʹ)to make weaker
- осла́бить (oslábitʹ)to make weaker
- слабе́ть (slabétʹ)to become weaker
- ослабева́ть (oslabevátʹ)to become weaker
- ослабе́ть (oslabétʹ)to become weaker
- осла́бнуть (oslábnutʹ)to become weaker
Scottish Gaelic lagaich, lagaich
- lagaichto make weaker
- lagaichto become weaker
Spanish debilitar, languir
- debilitarto make weaker
- languirto make weaker
- debilitarseto become weaker
- languecerto become weaker
- languidecerto become weaker
Swahili dhii
- dhiito make weaker
Swedish försvaga, försvagas
- försvagato make weaker
- försvagasto become weaker
- mattasto become weaker
Turkish dayanıksızlaştırmak, güçsüzleştirmek
- dayanıksızlaştırmakto make weaker
- güçsüzleştirmekto make weaker
- kuvvetsizleştirmekto make weaker
- zayıflatmakto make weaker
- dayanıksızlaşmakto become weaker
- güçsüzleşmekto become weaker
- kuvvetsizleşmekto become weaker
- zayıflamakto become weaker
Ukrainian посла́блювати, послабля́ти
- посла́блювати (poslábljuvaty)to make weaker
- послабля́ти (poslabljáty)to make weaker
- посла́бити (poslábyty)to make weaker
- сла́бнути (slábnuty)to become weaker
- сла́бшати (slábšaty)to become weaker
- слабі́ти (slabíty)to become weaker
- ослаба́ти (oslabáty)to become weaker
- осла́бнути (oslábnuty)to become weaker
- осла́бти (oslábty)to become weaker
- посла́блюватися (poslábljuvatysja)to become weaker
- посла́битися (poslábytysja)to become weaker
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with weaken
All rhymes →Cite this entry
weaken. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/weaken
“weaken.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/weaken. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “weaken,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/weaken.
Source: weaken on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.