fecklessness


Also found in: Thesaurus, Wikipedia.

feck·less

 (fĕk′lĭs)
adj.
1. Careless and irresponsible: "political prestidigitation designed to distract public attention from his feckless flouting of basic ethical principles" (Doug Ireland).
2. Feeble or ineffective: "Pickering's life was routinely threatened, and one feckless attempt had already been made to kidnap or kill him" (Garry Wills).

[Scots feck, effect (alteration of effect) + -less.]

feck′less·ly adv.
feck′less·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.fecklessness - worthlessness due to being feeble and ineffectual
worthlessness, ineptitude - having no qualities that would render it valuable or useful; "the drill sergeant's intent was to convince all the recruits of their worthlessness"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
In short, fecklessness in the use of force has undermined US credibility.
Be it flakiness, fecklessness or fitness, Nani, Anderson and Hargreaves were not stone-cold hits during their United careers but they were in 2007-08.
BJP wants to divert attention from its own fecklessness and inept handling of the crisis.
Even though it emerged from by far the easiest group and got thrashed in there by Uruguay, and even though it has benefited both from Mohammad Salah's injury and Spain's odd fecklessness, further passage wouldn't feel so unprecedented.
Daughter Ivanka was slammed by writers and personalities just yesterday for a tweet she made that had people calling her out for her 'complicity' and fecklessness in the immigration crisis.
Perhaps fury One person who knows she'll be picking up the pieces for his fecklessness, who'll be wiping away her daughter's disappointed tears and most likely holding out an arm of support when Meghan walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel on Saturday afternoon - Doria Ragland.
Yet today the ANC stands accused of both fecklessness and moral decay, and it suffered unprecedented losses to the opposition Democratic Alliance in urban areas in local elections in 2016.
The sad are people unthinkable in our right now their This grinding poverty, which is hidden from view, isn't caused by fecklessness, but by a change in circumstances which can happen to anyone.
New depths to Jimmy Carter's fecklessness have emerged through the declassification of State Department cables relating to the fall of the Shah of Iran.
Throw in the chronic irresponsibility of deficit spending, George Bush's broken 'no new taxes' promise, and Bil Clinton's general fecklessness, and distrust of politicians finally appears to have reached a healthy level."
The parlous state of the Afghan National Army and the sheer fecklessness of government was highlighted by last weekend's desperate plea by Helmand's deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar for supplies and reinforcements for the troops holding Sangin.
Any other course of action is feckless - and it is no duty of the Welfare State, or its toiling taxpayers, to fund such fecklessness.