feckless

adjective

feck·less ˈfek-ləs

Synonyms of feckless next

: weak, ineffective

She can't rely on her feckless son.

: worthless, irresponsible

a feckless maneuver that could only serve to strengthen the enemy—

Simon Schama

fecklessly adverb

fecklessness noun

Did you know?

A feckless person is lacking in feck. And what, you may ask, is feck? In Scots—our source of feckless—feck means "majority" or "effect." The term is ultimately an alteration of the Middle English effect. So something without feck is without effect, i.e., ineffective. In the past, feckful (meaning "efficient, effective," "sturdy," or "powerful") made an occasional appearance, but in this case, the weak has outlived the strong: feckless is a commonly used English word, but feckful has proven, well, feckless.

Examples of feckless in a Sentence

She can't rely on her feckless son. a well-intentioned but feckless response to the rise in school violence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

His feckless foreign policy initiatives have diminished respect for, and fear of, the U.S. throughout the world. —

A. J. Caschetta, National Review, 19 Jan. 2025 In 1930, the tut-tutting reached a feckless extreme. —

Brian Domitrovic, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025 In 1979, just before Ronald Reagan's crushing defeat of the feckless Jimmy Carter, a whopping 14.1% of Americans reported using drugs. —

Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 10 Jan. 2025 Continue reading … Click here for more cartoons… MEDIA ‘STUBBORN OLD MAN’ – 'Obama bros' trash Biden for 'feckless' op-ed about January 6. —

Fox News, 8 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for feckless