WEAKLY (weaklier, weakliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: weaklier    , weakliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does weakly mean? 

• WEAKLY (adjective)
  The adjective WEAKLY has 1 sense:

1. lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality

  Familiarity information: WEAKLY used as an adjective is very rare.

• WEAKLY (adverb)
  The adverb WEAKLY has 1 sense:

1. in a weak or feeble manner or to a minor degree

  Familiarity information: WEAKLY used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WEAKLY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality

Synonyms:

debile; decrepit; feeble; infirm; rickety; sapless; weak; weakly

Context example:

her body looked sapless

Similar:

frail (physically weak)

• WEAKLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a weak or feeble manner or to a minor degree

Context example:

he was weakly attracted to her

Antonym:

strongly (with strength or in a strong manner)

Pertainym:

weak (wanting in physical strength)

 Context examples 

NPG’s molecules, composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, are nearly spherical and interact with each other only weakly.

(Green material for refrigeration identified, University of Cambridge)

"But to-morrow's wash day," she objected weakly.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

DNP conjugation may enhance the immunogenicity of weakly immunogenic antigens.

(Autologous Dinitrophenyl-Modified Ovarian Cancer Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

Less potent than the structurally-related compound dolastatin 10, dolastatin 15 binds weakly to tubulin and blocks microtubule assembly, thereby inhibiting mitosis.

(Dolastatin 15, NCI Thesaurus)

MoAb ABX-CBL recognizes human CD147 antigen, weakly expressed on human leukocytes and up-regulated on activated lymphocytes.

(Gavilimomab, NCI Thesaurus)

“Good-night, Mr. Larsen,” I answered weakly.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He dropped into a chair, and weakly sobbed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This species is nonsporulating, urease, catalase and indole negative, pyrrolidonyl negative, does not reduce nitrate, weakly ferments mannose and raffinose and may appear gram variable due to staining difficulty.

(Clostridium ramosum, NCI Thesaurus)

This bacteria is non-motile, hemolytic, hydrolyzes gelatin, is weakly catalase positive and does not reduce nitrate.

(Alistipes putredinis, NCI Thesaurus)

The cut of her teeth in his neck still hurt, but his feelings were hurt more grievously, and he sat down and weakly whimpered.

(White Fang, by Jack London)