Meaning & use
to weaken
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To become less strong, or to make someone or something less strong.
Grammar: Can take an object (The illness weakened him) or stand alone (His voice weakened).
Patterns
- weaken someone
- weaken something
- something weakens
The long illness weakened her a lot.
The team's defense weakened after the captain left.
Cold weather can weaken the plants in the garden.
verbtransitive
To make an argument, position, or feeling less convincing or less firm.
Grammar: Usually takes an object such as an argument, a case, or support: That weakens their case.
Patterns
- weaken an argument
- weaken someone's position
- weaken support for something
The new evidence weakens their argument.
His strange behavior weakened support for the plan.
One mistake can weaken the whole case in court.
Word forms
| third person singular | weakens |
|---|---|
| past tense | weakened |
| past participle | weakened |
| -ing form | weakening |
Common combinations
- weaken over time
- Her health weakened over time.
- weaken someone's position
- The scandal weakened the mayor's position.
- seriously weaken
- The flood seriously weakened the bridge.
- weaken the case
- Missing documents weaken the case.
- the dollar weakens
- The dollar weakened against the euro this week.
Synonyms and how they differ
- weaken
- This is the plain everyday choice for losing strength.
- undermine
- Undermine suggests slowly damaging something from below, often a person's authority or confidence.
- dilute
- Dilute means to make something thinner or less strong by adding liquid or extra details.
- soften
- Soften means to make something less hard or less severe, not necessarily less strong.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: to weaken or weeken?
to weaken vs weeken
'Weeken' is not a word; if you mean making something less strong, write weaken with -ea-.
Practice
Choose the best sentence.
Choose one answer.
The correct past form is 'weakened'; 'weaked' and 'weakended' are not real forms, and the passive needs 'was weakened by', not 'was weakened his arm'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “to weaken”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.