Definition of 'weaken'
Word forms: 3rd person singular present tense weakens, present participle weakening, past tense, past participle weakened
1. transitive verb/intransitive verb
If you weaken something or if it weakens, it becomes less strong or less powerful.
2. transitive verb/intransitive verb
3. transitive verb
If something weakens you, it causes you to lose some of your physical strength.
4. transitive verb
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
weaken in American English
verb transitive, verb intransitive
SYNONYMY NOTE: weaken, the most general of these words, implies a lessening of strength, power, soundness,
etc. [weakened by disease, to weaken an argument]; debilitate suggests a partial or temporary weakening, as by disease or dissipation [debilitated by alcoholic excesses]; enervate implies a lessening of force, vigor, energy, etc., as through indulgence in luxury
[enervated by idleness]; undermine, sap1 both suggest a weakening or impairing by subtle or stealthy means [authority undermined by rumors, strength sapped by disease] to make or become weak or weaker
OPPOSITES: strengthen, energize
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Derived forms
weakener (ˈweakener)
noun
Word Frequency
weaken in American English
(ˈwikən)
transitive verb
1.
to make weak or weaker
2. Phonetics
to change (a speech sound) to an articulation requiring less effort, as from geminate to nongeminate or from stop to fricative
intransitive verb
SYNONYMS 1, 3. enfeeble, debilitate, enervate, undermine, sap, exhaust, deplete, lessen, diminish,
lower, reduce, impair, minimize, invalidateANTONYMS 1, 3. strengthen3.
to become weak or weaker
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
weakener noun
Word origin
[1520–30; weak + -en1]Word Frequency
weaken in British English
verb
to become or cause to become weak or weaker
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
weakener (ˈweakener) noun
Examples of 'weaken' in a sentence
weaken
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In other languages
weaken
British English: weaken
VERB /ˈwiːkən/
If you weaken something or if it weakens, it becomes less strong or less powerful.
The recession has weakened many businesses.
- American English: weaken /ˈwikən/
- Brazilian Portuguese: enfraquecer(-se)
- Chinese: 使虚弱
- European Spanish: debilitarse
- French: affaiblir
- German: schwächen
- Italian: indebolirsi
- Japanese: 弱体化させる/弱体化する
- Korean: 약화되다
- European Portuguese: enfraquecer(-se)
- Spanish: debilitarse
- Thai: ทำให้อ่อนแอ
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Definition of weaken from the Collins English Dictionary
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