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weaksauce

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 6 October 2024

Etymology

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PIE word
*séh₂ls

From weak (adjective) +‎ sauce (noun), referring to a sauce that lacks flavour.[1] By surface analysis, weak +‎ -sauce (suffix used to add emphasis to adjectives).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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weaksauce (not comparable)

  1. (originally and chiefly US, informal) Lacking in interest or substance; boring, disappointing, lacklustre. [from late 1980s]
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:boring
    • [1993 February 12, Jeff Schnaufer, “New Trends Imitate ’70’s Style”, in Andrew McRoberts, editor, The Crusader, volume 34, number 14, Selinsgrove, Pa.: Susquehanna University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3, columns 5–6:
      Some California students provided us with a taste of slang words that are now catching on, although, thanks to MTV, you have already heard some of them. […] Good events or things are "dope." Bad events are "weak sauce." "Right on" is "that's sweet." "That's awesome" is "that's the bomb."]
    • 1998 June, “Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. [review]”, in Jay Puryear, editor, GameFan: The Last True Enthusiast Magazine, volume 6, number 6, Santa Monica, Calif.: Metropolis Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 44:
      Blazing at a very healthy 30 frames per second with NO clipping, NO slowdown, and NO loss of graphic quality, this one made Eggo run to the nearest restroom after his ‘weak sauce’ stomach gave out.
    • 1999 March, “Hocus Pocus [X Games Pro Boarder PS: Thrashing Ollie B, All Circuits, and Mondo!]”, in Eric Mylonas, editor, GameFan: The Last True Enthusiast Magazine, volume 7, number 3, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Calif.: Shinno Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 92, column 3:
      Getting your butt thrashed by those curvaceous powdery paths? Or are ya getting tired of that weaksauce boarder of yours? Here are some codes that should do the trick: […]
    • 2006, Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Station […], New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 237:
      [T]he news bunny ran up to him, saying, "Officer, did you have trouble catching up with Batman? Was it an exciting chase?" The surfer cop struck a semi-heroic pose for the camera and said, "Weak sauce." Then he quickly walked Batman to the black-and-white, where he was put into the backseat.
    • 2007, Matthew Reis, chapter 28, in Kid with a Rocket Launcher: The Bluffside Summer Solstice County Fair […], [Morrisville, N.C.]: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 201:
      She gave Julius a punch to his arm and headed back toward the fair, leaving Julius and me in yet another showdown, super-stick versus weaksauce-sword.
    • 2008, Dave Kellett, “Monetizing Your Webcomic”, in Brad Guigar, Dave Kellett, Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, How to Make Webcomics, Berkeley, Calif.: Image Comics, →ISBN, page 124, column 2:
      The quality, I'm sad to say, is sometimes weak-sauce.
    • 2014, Tana French, The Secret Place, Dublin: Hachette Books Ireland, →ISBN, page 149:
      'I'm not scared, I'm just not stupid.' Can't we just, like, dye our hair purple or—' […] Even to Julia it sounds weaksauce. 'That's not scary,' Becca says. 'I want something scary.'
    • 2023 August 29, Andrew Feinberg, “Former Trump adviser scolded by judge for ‘weak sauce’ excuse for refusing to testify to Jan 6 committee”, in The Independent‎[1], London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC; reproduced on Yahoo! News‎[2], 29 August 2023, archived from the original on 2024-05-15:
      The judge [Amit Mehta] told the ex-Trump aide's lawyer, Stanley Woodward, that their argument was hard to support absent direct evidence that Mr [Peter] Navarro was actually told not to comply with the subpoena. "I still don't know what the president said—I don't have any words from the former president," said the judge, who added that testimony from Mr Navarro about how Mr [Donald] Trump once expressed regret for not letting him testify was "pretty weak sauce".

Alternative forms

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Translations

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Noun

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weaksauce (countable and uncountable, plural weaksauces) (originally and chiefly US, informal)

  2. (countable) Someone or something that is lacking in interest or substance.
    Synonym: lacklustre
    • 2015, Samantha Marks, “The Birthday”, in A Fatal Family Secret (Morphosis.me Files; 1), [S.l.]: Samantha Marks, →ISBN, page 26:
      Had a run-in on the bus with some weak sauces.
  3. (uncountable)
    2. The quality or state of lacking in interest or substance; boringness, disappointment.
      • 2013, Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Planting Sweetgrass”, in Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Minneapolis, Minn.: Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, page 40:
        […] New England Asters. Not the pale domesticates of the perennial border, the weak sauce of lavender or sky blue, but full-on royal purple that would make a violet shrink.
    4. Synonym of weak tea (“weak or feeble arguments, efforts, or proposals”)
      • 2006 September, Jeff Green, quoting D3thf4art [pseudonym; Stanley Lipschitz], “Interview with a Pro Gamer”, in Jeff Green, editor, Computer Gaming World, number 266, Boulder, Colo.: Ziff Davis Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 112, column 1:
        But when I turned pro, I knew I needed a really badass name, 'cuz it intimidates n00bs, who will disconnect just when they see me show up. And I'm like, "Bye—take that weaksauce home."

Alternative forms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “weak sauce, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “weak sauce, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
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