as in fragile
chronically or repeatedly suffering from poor health
a weakly baby who required repeated hospitalizations
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as in feebly
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Recent Examples of weakly
Peter Simons, The Conversation, 16 Jan. 2026
In 1946, Congress responded weakly to mounting overseas food needs.
—Peter Simons, Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
They’d been poorly reviewed, sold weakly, and were generally held in low esteem except by a select few.
—Vince Passaro, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Many systems are either highly mobile but weakly connected, or strongly connected but slow to reconfigure and prone to losing mobility.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 16 Dec. 2025
In the sixth, Chisholm walked to the plate with Aaron Judge on second base and Giancarlo Stanton on first and two outs, but Chisholm grounded out weakly to second base.
—The Athletic Mlb Staff, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
The sun blasts us from the left and warm air puffs weakly from the vents.
—R29 Team, Refinery29, 19 Sep. 2025
After striking out weakly in his at-bat in the fourth, the Twins removed Jeffers from the game.
—David Brown, Twin Cities, 6 Sep. 2025
These differences matter — research shows the benefits are strongest where enforcement is clear and coverage is broad, while partial or weakly enforced laws yield far less impact.
—Nirit Cohen, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Adverb
In 1946, Congress responded weakly to mounting overseas food needs.
—Peter Simons, The Conversation, 16 Jan. 2026
In 1946, Congress responded weakly to mounting overseas food needs.
—Peter Simons, Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
They’d been poorly reviewed, sold weakly, and were generally held in low esteem except by a select few.
—Vince Passaro, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Many systems are either highly mobile but weakly connected, or strongly connected but slow to reconfigure and prone to losing mobility.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 16 Dec. 2025
In the sixth, Chisholm walked to the plate with Aaron Judge on second base and Giancarlo Stanton on first and two outs, but Chisholm grounded out weakly to second base.
—The Athletic Mlb Staff, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
The sun blasts us from the left and warm air puffs weakly from the vents.
—R29 Team, Refinery29, 19 Sep. 2025
After striking out weakly in his at-bat in the fourth, the Twins removed Jeffers from the game.
—David Brown, Twin Cities, 6 Sep. 2025
These differences matter — research shows the benefits are strongest where enforcement is clear and coverage is broad, while partial or weakly enforced laws yield far less impact.
—Nirit Cohen, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for weakly
Adjective
-
Savannah Guthrie opened the family’s plea by thanking supporters for their prayers before describing her mother as the heart of their family and making a direct appeal for contact, stressing Nancy Guthrie’s fragile health and urgent need for medication.—
Adam Sabes , Michael Ruiz , Greg Wehner,
FOXNews.com,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Biocomputing remains highly experimental, fragile, and difficult to scale.—
Matthew S Williams,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Feb. 2026
Adverb
-
One man aboard the boat knew how to navigate the mangroves and sandbars of the keys, and with the late summer sun beating down on the rafters, the boat pushed out feebly into the open ocean.—
Miriam Pensack,
The Dial,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Bangladesh’s woes have not improved much since Hasina’s ouster, with high inflation and a weak taka currency combining to erode real incomes for ordinary households.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Pinterest posted disappointing fourth-quarter results and gave weak guidance for first-quarter sales.—
Liz Napolitano,Darla Mercado, CFP®,
CNBC,
13 Feb. 2026
Adverb
-
The outline of the jaw jitters faintly—two layers are ever so slightly misaligned.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
24 Jan. 2026
-
The bonito smelled barely of the ocean, clean and faintly salty.—
Hannah Goldfield,
New Yorker,
19 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Few things shake the confidence of a person like crawling to the top bunk of a quivering bed frame, your feet wrapping uncomfortably along the frail metal rungs of the ladder.—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Under a cowboy hat and a long poncho, Weir looked visibly frail on stage.—
Paul Liberatore,
Mercury News,
16 Jan. 2026
Adverb
-
This is of course the whole point of conservatism, to go slowly, tread softly, because everything has unintended consequences.—
Abby McCloskey,
Twin Cities,
5 Feb. 2026
-
The café is spacious and softly buzzing, with quiet conversations carrying over from distant tables.—
Pau Mosquera,
CNN Money,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Saccharine is more polished in its technical aspects than in its storytelling, from the queasy visuals (Sarroff shot Relic, as well as both Smile movies) and sickly lighting to composer Hannah Peel’s eerie synths to some impressively gnarly gore.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Feb. 2026
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The 89-minute running time doesn’t allow much exposition, and in fact the opening sequence shows a veterinarian coming to treat a sickly Ben before having his face viciously torn off.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
8 Jan. 2026
Adverb
-
Backfill the soil around the root balls and press down gently on the soil to firm it.—
David Beaulieu,
The Spruce,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Afterward, gently scrub with a soft toothbrush to remove grooves.—
Louise Parks,
Martha Stewart,
11 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Weakly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/weakly. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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