weaken

weaken
weak|en [ `wikən ] verb **
1. ) intransitive or transitive to make someone physically less strong and healthy, or to become less strong and healthy:
Stress can weaken the immune system.
She began to weaken after running for 8 miles.
a ) to make a structure more likely to break, or to become more likely to break:
Many buildings had already been weakened by last year's storms.
2. ) intransitive or transitive to make someone or something less powerful or important, or to become less powerful or important:
A peace deal between Israel and Lebanon would have weakened Syria's influence in the region.
3. ) transitive to make someone less determined or less certain:
If your facts are wrong, that's going to weaken your case.
weaken someone's resolve/morale/resistance/spirit: No amount of violence will weaken our resolve.
a ) intransitive if someone weakens about an opinion or decision, they become less certain about it:
In the end I weakened and agreed to go.
4. ) intransitive if prices weaken, they fall

Usage of the words and phrases in modern English. 2013.

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Synonyms:
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  • weaken — weak‧en [ˈwiːkən] verb 1. [intransitive, transitive] FINANCE if investments, prices, currencies etc weaken, or something weakens them, they begin to fall in value: • A combination of low US interest rates and a rising Euro will weaken the dollar …   Financial and business terms

  • Weaken — Weak en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Weakened}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Weakening}.] [1913 Webster] 1. To make weak; to lessen the strength of; to deprive of strength; to debilitate; to enfeeble; to enervate; as, to weaken the body or the mind; to weaken the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • weaken — weaken, enfeeble, debilitate, undermine, sap, cripple, disable can mean to lose or cause to lose, strength, vigor, or energy. Weaken, the most general term of this group, most frequently implies loss of the physical strength or functional… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • weaken — [wē′kən] vt., vi. to make or become weak or weaker weakener n. SYN. 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… …   English World dictionary

  • Weaken — Weak en, v. i. To become weak or weaker; to lose strength, spirit, or determination; to become less positive or resolute; as, the patient weakened; the witness weakened on cross examination. His notion weakens, his discernings are lethargied.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • weaken — index adulterate, alleviate, attenuate, countervail, damage, debase, debilitate, denature, deplete …   Law dictionary

  • weaken — 1520s, from WEAK (Cf. weak) + EN (Cf. en) (1). The earlier verb was simply weak (late 14c.). Related: Weakened; weakening …   Etymology dictionary

  • weaken — [v] reduce the strength of abate, adulterate, break up, cripple, crumble, cut, debase, debilitate, decline, decrease, depress, devitalize, dilute, diminish, droop, dwindle, ease up, enervate, exhaust, fade, fail, faint, flag, give way, halt,… …   New thesaurus

  • weaken — ► VERB ▪ make or become weak …   English terms dictionary

  • weaken */*/ — UK [ˈwiːkən] / US [ˈwɪkən] verb Word forms weaken : present tense I/you/we/they weaken he/she/it weakens present participle weakening past tense weakened past participle weakened 1) a) [intransitive/transitive] to make someone physically less… …   English dictionary

  • weaken — verb ADVERB ▪ considerably, greatly, seriously, severely, significantly, substantially ▪ badly ▪ The military was badly weakened by the sanctions …   Collocations dictionary

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