weakness
weak‧ness W3 /ˈwiːknəs, ˈwiːknɪs/ BrE AmE noun
[Word Family: noun: ↑weakling, ↑weakness; verb: ↑weaken; adverb: ↑weakly; adjective: ↑weak]
1. FAULT [countable] a fault in someone’s character or in a system, organization, design etc:
The legislation has a fundamental weakness.
The plan has strengths and weaknesses.
2. LACK OF POWER [uncountable] lack of strength, power, or influence
weakness in
weakness in the economy
weakness of
the growing weakness of local government
3. BODY [uncountable] the state of being physically weak:
muscular weakness
weakness in
weakness in the right arm
4. CHARACTER [uncountable] lack of determination shown in someone’s behaviour:
He couldn’t explain his weakness in giving in to her demands.
I dared not cry or show any sign of weakness.
weakness of
his weakness of character
5. MONEY [uncountable] the condition of not being worth a lot of money
weakness of
the weakness of the pound against the dollar
6. a weakness for something if you have a weakness for something, you like it very much even though it may not be good for you:
I have a real weakness for fashionable clothes.
THESAURUS
■ something wrong
▪ fault a problem in a machine, system, design etc that causes damage or makes it not work properly: The fire was caused by an electrical fault. | a fault in the engine
▪ defect a fault in something such as a product or machine, resulting from the way it was made or designed: Cars are tested for defects before they leave the factory.
▪ weakness a part of a plan, system, or argument that is not as good as the other parts, and makes it likely to fail: What are the strengths and weaknesses of each method?
▪ flaw a fault in a plan, system, argument etc, especially one that makes it useless or not effective: Your argument has a fundamental flaw. | There was one major flaw in his suggestion – we didn’t have enough money.
▪ bug a fault in a computer program: A bug in the system was quickly fixed.
▪ glitch a small fault in the way something works, that can usually be easily corrected: I noticed a small glitch when installing the software.
▪ mistake something that is wrong in someone’s spelling, grammar, calculations etc: The article was full of spelling mistakes.
▪ there’s something wrong with something used when saying that there is a problem in a machine, car etc, but you do not know what it is: There’s something wrong with the computer – it won’t close down.