different between weak vs extinct

English

Etymology

From Middle English weyk, wayk, weik, waik, from Old Norse veikr (“weak”), from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz (“weak, yielded, pliant, bendsome”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to bend, wind”). Cognate with Old English w?c (“weak, bendsome”), Saterland Frisian wook (“soft, gentle, tender”), West Frisian weak (“soft”), Dutch week (“soft, weak”), German weich (“weak, soft”), Norwegian veik (“weak”), Swedish vek (“weak, pliant”), Icelandic veikur (“bendsome, weak”). Related to Old English w?can (“to yield”). Doublet of week and wick. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?k, IPA^(key): /wi?k/
• Rhymes: -i?k
• Homophone: week

Adjective

weak (comparative weaker, superlative weakest)

1. Lacking in force (usually strength) or ability.
   • weak with hunger, mad with love

2. Unable to sustain a great weight, pressure, or strain.

3. Unable to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc.; easily impressed, moved, or overcome; accessible; vulnerable.
   • 1703, Nicholas Rowe, The Fair Penitent Act I, scene I:

     Guard thy heart / On this weak side, where most our nature fails.

4. Dilute, lacking in taste or potency.

5. (grammar) Displaying a particular kind of inflection, including:
   1. (Germanic languages, of verbs) Regular in inflection, lacking vowel changes and having a past tense with -d- or -t-.
   2. (Germanic languages, of nouns) Showing less distinct grammatical endings.
   3. (Germanic languages, of adjectives) Definite in meaning, often used with a definite article or similar word.
6. (chemistry) That does not ionize completely into anions and cations in a solution.

7. (physics) One of the four fundamental forces associated with nuclear decay.
8. (slang) Bad or uncool.

9. (mathematics, logic) Having a narrow range of logical consequences; narrowly applicable. (Often contrasted with a strong statement which implies it.)
10. Resulting from, or indicating, lack of judgment, discernment, or firmness; unwise; hence, foolish.
11. Not having power to convince; not supported by force of reason or truth; unsustained.
12. Lacking in vigour or expression.

13. Not prevalent or effective, or not felt to be prevalent; not potent; feeble.
14. (stock exchange) Tending towards lower prices.

15. (photography) Lacking contrast.

Synonyms

• (lacking in force or ability): feeble, frail, powerless, vincible, assailable, vulnerable
• (lacking in taste or potency): dilute, watery
• See also Thesaurus:weak

Antonyms

• (lacking in force or ability): healthy, powerful, robust, strong, invincible
• (lacking in taste or potency): potent, robust, strong
• (chemistry: that does not ionize completely): strong

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Wake, wake, weka

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v???k/

Adjective

weak

1. (Clay) soft

Inflection

Alternative forms

• wêk (Wood)

Further reading

• “weak (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1432; borrowed from Latin extinctus, the past participle of extinguere (“to put out, destroy, abolish, extinguish”), corresponding to ex- + stinguere (“to quench”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?st??kt/, /?k?st??kt/
• Rhymes: -??kt

Adjective

extinct (not comparable)

1. (dated) Extinguished, no longer alight (of fire, candles etc.)

   Poor Edward's cigarillo was already extinct.

2. No longer used; obsolete, discontinued.

   The title became extinct when the last baron died.

   Luckily, such ideas about race are extinct in current sociological theory.

   • Indeed the very fact that the English spelling system writes in there as two words but therein as one word might be taken as suggesting that only the former is a productive syntactic construction in Modern English, the latter being a now extinct construction which has left behind a few fossil remnants in the form of compound words such as thereby.

3. (of a group of organisms, as a species) No longer in existence; having died out.

4. (geology) No longer active.

Synonyms

• (no longer used): See also Thesaurus:obsolete
• (having died out): See also Thesaurus:inexistent
• (volcanology: no longer erupting): dead

Antonyms

• (no longer alight): burning
• (having died out): extant; See also Thesaurus:existent
• (volcanology: no longer erupting): active, dormant

Related terms

• extinction
• extinctive
• extinguish
• distinct

Translations

Further reading

• extinct at OneLook Dictionary Search
• extinct in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• extinct in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Verb

extinct (third-person singular simple present extincts, present participle extincting, simple past and past participle extincted)

1. (transitive, nonstandard) To make extinct; to extinguish or annihilate.