Meaning & use
weaken
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To make someone or something less strong, powerful or effective.
Grammar: Takes an object: the illness weakened her heart.
Patterns
- weaken something
- weaken someone's position
Years of heavy rain had weakened the bridge supports.
The scandal weakened the government's position before the election.
Too much water will weaken the flavor of the soup.
verbintransitive
To become less strong, powerful or determined.
Grammar: No object: the signal weakened. Often describes a gradual change.
Patterns
- someone's resolve weakens
- something weakens over time
The storm weakened as it moved inland.
My grip weakened and I dropped the jar.
He said he would never forgive her, but his anger gradually weakened.
Word forms
| third person singular | weakens |
|---|---|
| past tense | weakened |
| past participle | weakened |
| -ing form | weakening |
Common combinations
- weaken the immune system
- Lack of sleep can weaken the immune system.
- weaken someone's resolve
- Their constant begging weakened my resolve and I said yes.
- weaken an argument
- One careless mistake weakened the whole argument.
- weaken the economy
- Rising debts could weaken the economy.
- gradually weaken
- The signal gradually weakened as we drove into the hills.
Synonyms and how they differ
- undermine
- Undermine suggests damaging something slowly from beneath or in secret, and it always needs an object.
- sap
- Sap means to drain strength bit by bit and is more literary than weaken.
- dilute
- Dilute means to make a liquid or idea weaker by adding something, so it is narrower than weaken.
- enfeeble
- Enfeeble is a formal word that mostly applies to people's bodies and sounds much stronger than weaken.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: weaken or weaker?
weaken vs weaker
Weaker is the comparative adjective, as in a weaker signal, while weaken is the verb that describes the change.
Practice
The long drought began to ____ the old oak tree, and it lost many branches.
Choose one answer.
Weaken is the verb meaning to make less strong. Weakness is a noun and cannot follow to here, and wither up is not a standard verb phrase in this position.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “weaken”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.