Meanings
weakly1
comparative weaklier · superlative weakliest
- Frail, sickly or of a delicate constitution; weak.
"Oh, a huge crab," Jacob murmured—and begins his journey on weakly legs on the sandy bottom.
1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob's Room2 more examples
I lay in weakly case and confined to my bed for four months before I was able to rise and health returned to me.
1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 18I'd always been but weakly, / And my baby was just born; / A neighbour minded her by day, / I minded her till morn.
1889, WB Yeats, The Ballad of Moll Magee
weakly2
comparative more weakly · superlative most weakly
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivelacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality
adverbin a weak or feeble manner or to a minor degree
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
weakly · adjective
- Proto-Germanic*waikalīkaz“weakly; weak”
- Old Englishwāclīċe“weakly”
- Englishweakly
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”).
More words from Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →weakly · adverb
- Proto-Germanic*waikalīkō
- Middle Englishweykly
- Englishweakly
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).
More words from Middle English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan dèbilment, feblement
- dèbilmentwith little strength or force
- feblementwith little strength or force
Esperanto malforte
- malfortewith little strength or force
French faiblement
- faiblementwith little strength or force
Hungarian gyengén
- gyengénwith little strength or force
Māori māioio
- māioiowith little strength or force
Polish słabo
- słabowith little strength or force
Portuguese debilmente
- debilmentewith little strength or force
Russian сла́бо
- сла́бо (slábo)with little strength or force
Spanish débilmente, caducamente
- débilmentewith little strength or force
- caducamentewith little strength or force
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with weakly
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
weakly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/weakly
“weakly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/weakly. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “weakly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/weakly.
Source: weakly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.