weak-kneed

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

weak-kneed (comparative more weak-kneed, superlative most weak-kneed)

  1. (figuratively) Lacking will power or strength of character; timid.
    • 1903, Jack London, chapter 5, in The People of the Abyss:
      It is incontrovertible that the children grow up into rotten adults, without virility or stamina, a weak-kneed, narrow-chested, listless breed, that crumples up and goes down in the brute struggle for life.
    • 2019 October 2, Lauren Frayer, “Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, But His Attitudes On Race And Sex Are Under Scrutiny”, in NPR‎[1]:
      What these teenagers are weighing is at the very heart of Gandhian philosophy: "His absolute insistence on nonviolence, which young men see as pussyfooted and weak-kneed and — dare I say — feminine and hence not macho enough," says Guha, the biographer.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see weak,‎ kneed.

Translations

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