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
The feedback that might customarily be provided by a fellow human is bound to be muddled with all kinds of feckless improprieties.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025
In the wake of World War II, the charge was that feckless bureaucrats served Soviet masters.
—Colin Gordon, The Conversation, 3 Feb. 2025
The League of Nations proved feckless as the great powers turned to autarky and protectionism in the 1920s and 1930s, fomenting the nationalism that drove the autocratic regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan to war.
—Michael Brenes, Foreign Affairs, 28 Jan. 2025
Other governments won’t let the White House reduce them to feckless subordinates.
—Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 14 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for feckless
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Lance Eliot, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025
In the wake of World War II, the charge was that feckless bureaucrats served Soviet masters.
—Colin Gordon, The Conversation, 3 Feb. 2025
The League of Nations proved feckless as the great powers turned to autarky and protectionism in the 1920s and 1930s, fomenting the nationalism that drove the autocratic regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan to war.
—Michael Brenes, Foreign Affairs, 28 Jan. 2025
Other governments won’t let the White House reduce them to feckless subordinates.
—Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 14 Feb. 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 12 Mar. 2025.
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