1
: weak, ineffective
She can't rely on her feckless son.
2
: worthless, irresponsible
a feckless maneuver that could only serve to strengthen the enemy—
Simon Schama
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.
Synonyms
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
Instead of relying on a feckless Lebanese army to guard Israel's northern border, Trump will support greater latitude for Israel to defend itself and prevent any Hezbollah attempts to infiltrate the area.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024
Men are a structuring absence, as they are spoken of as faithless husbands, potential fiancés, feckless sons.
—John Bleasdale, Variety, 21 Nov. 2024
Some of her women have children to corral, some are young and feckless, some old and lonely, some young and lonely, some divorced.
—Madeline Leung Coleman, Vulture, 15 May 2024
As in Bosnia, if the West did not act, then both NATO and the European Union would appear feckless and thus diminished as security institutions with a valid role in the post-Cold War era.
—Robert E. Hunter, Foreign Affairs, 16 Mar. 2011
See all Example Sentences for feckless 
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Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024
Men are a structuring absence, as they are spoken of as faithless husbands, potential fiancés, feckless sons.
—John Bleasdale, Variety, 21 Nov. 2024
Some of her women have children to corral, some are young and feckless, some old and lonely, some young and lonely, some divorced.
—Madeline Leung Coleman, Vulture, 15 May 2024
As in Bosnia, if the West did not act, then both NATO and the European Union would appear feckless and thus diminished as security institutions with a valid role in the post-Cold War era.
—Robert E. Hunter, Foreign Affairs, 16 Mar. 2011
See all Example Sentences for feckless
Dictionary Entries Near feckless
Cite this Entry
“Feckless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckless. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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