Word of the Day

: September 29, 2024

feckless

adjective FECK-lus

What It Means

Feckless describes people or things that are weak or ineffective.

// The agency’s response to the dramatic increase in air pollution was well-intentioned but ultimately feckless.

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feckless in Context

"The players streamed down Columbus Avenue, serenading passersby with the Tilted Axes theme song; a pedestrian stopped and stared. When the Axes crossed Sixty-sixth Street, traffic momentarily isolated one bass player from the rest of the band, like a feckless baby elephant stranded on the veldt." — Henry Alford, The New Yorker, 22 July 2024

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.