weedy

Adjective

weedy (comparative weedier, superlative weediest)

1. Abounding with weeds.
   • weedy grounds
   • a weedy garden
2. Of, relating to or resembling weeds.
   • The wild rice has a peculiar weedy, smoky flavor, but if properly cooked is very delicious.1894, Catharine Parr Traill, “Our Native Grasses”, in Pearls and Pebbles, London: Sampson Low, Marston, page 214
   • A faint weedy smell came up from the river […]1925, Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves, Part 2, Chapter 5

   Synonyms:

   weedlike

3. Consisting of weeds.
   • There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
     Clamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,
     When down her weedy trophies and herself
     Fell in the weeping brook.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
   • Daily the beans saw me come to their rescue armed with a hoe, and thin the ranks of their enemies, filling up the trenches with weedy dead.1854, Henry David Thoreau, “The Bean-Field”, in Walden, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, page 175
4. Characteristic of a plant that grows rapidly and spreads invasively, and which grows opportunistically in cracks of sidewalks and disturbed areas.
   • a weedy species
   • a weedy vine
5. (figuratively) Small and weak.
   • a weedy lad
   • I’ll bring Grace, who is looking rather pale and weedy; growing too fast, I’m afraid.1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, chapter 8, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published...

   Synonyms:

   scraggy, ungainly, angular, anorexic, carrion, emaciated, gangling, gangly, gaunt, haggard

6. (Ireland, UK, figuratively, informal) Lacking power or effectiveness.
   • a weedy excuse
   • a weedy attempt

   Synonyms:

   feeble, anemic, breakable, broken-down, damaged, debilitated, decrepit, delicate, dickless, effete