feckless

/'feklis/

Thân thiện

A feckless employee stares blankly at a broken printer.

Definition

Adjective: 1. Lacking strength of character; weak and irresponsible: Describes a person who is careless, unreliable, and fails to take their duties seriously. 2. Ineffective; incompetent; lacking vigor or force: Describes actions or efforts that are feeble, useless, or unlikely to produce a desired result.

Usage and Examples

• Describing a person's character:

  • He was dismissed for being a feckless employee who never met deadlines.
  • The novel's protagonist is a feckless dreamer, unable to manage his practical affairs.

• Describing actions or efforts:

  • After several feckless attempts to start the car, she finally called for help.
  • The government's feckless policies failed to address the economic crisis.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• The word often carries a strong tone of moral judgment or contempt, implying not just failure but a culpable lack of effort or care.
• It can describe a prolonged state of being rather than a single instance: a feckless lifestyle, a feckless administration.
• "Feckless" vs. "Careless": While both imply a lack of care, "feckless" is stronger, suggesting a fundamental weakness of character leading to ineffectiveness. "Careless" is more about a specific lack of attention.

Variants and Related Words

• Fecklessly (adverb): In a feckless manner.
  • He wandered fecklessly through life without any clear goals.
• Fecklessness (noun): The quality or state of being feckless.
  • The team's failure was due to the sheer fecklessness of its management.

Synonyms

• Inept: Having or showing no skill; clumsy.
• Irresponsible: Not showing a proper sense of responsibility.
• Incompetent: Not having the necessary skills to do something successfully.
• Shiftless: Lacking ambition or initiative; lazy.

Antonyms

• Competent: Having the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully.
• Responsible: Having an obligation to do something, or having control over or care for someone.
• Effective: Successful in producing a desired or intended result.
• Dynamic: (Of a person) positive in attitude and full of energy and new ideas.

Idioms and Common Phrases

• While there are no common idioms using the word "feckless" itself, it is frequently used in the following patterns:
  • Feckless youth: Describing young people perceived as aimless or irresponsible.
  • Feckless leadership: A critical description of weak and ineffective leaders.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. generally incompetent and ineffectual
   • feckless attempts to repair the plumbing
   • inept handling of the account
2. not fit to assume responsibility

Từ đồng nghĩa

• inept