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.
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
Compare this to the feckless impotence of Donald Trump or Andrew Cuomo.
—Steven W. Thrasher
june 23, Literary Hub, 23 June 2025
Now go to the French Laundry and stuff your lying face with caviar while Los Angeles burns YET AGAIN under your feckless leadership.
—Megan Cartwright, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 June 2025
And the President’s feckless tech bros can arbitrarily withhold billions in federal support for everything from cancer research to hurricane tracking.
—Ron Cunningham, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 June 2025
In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.
—Tara Suter, The Hill, 8 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for feckless
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Steven W. Thrasher
june 23, Literary Hub, 23 June 2025
Now go to the French Laundry and stuff your lying face with caviar while Los Angeles burns YET AGAIN under your feckless leadership.
—Megan Cartwright, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 June 2025
And the President’s feckless tech bros can arbitrarily withhold billions in federal support for everything from cancer research to hurricane tracking.
—Ron Cunningham, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 June 2025
In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.
—Tara Suter, The Hill, 8 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for feckless
Cite this Entry
“Feckless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckless. Accessed 28 Jun. 2025.
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