weaksauce

English

Alternative forms

• weak sauce

Etymology

weak +‎ -sauce. Attested as college student slang as early as 1995 according to https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/601809/the-origin-of-awesomesauce-and-weak-sauce

Pronunciation

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Adjective

weaksauce (not comparable)

1. (slang) Boring or disappointing.

Noun

weaksauce (uncountable)

2. (informal) Something that is boring or disappointing.
4. (informal) The state or quality of being boring or disappointing.
   • 2013, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1st edition, Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 40:

     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.

6. Synonym of weak tea (“poorly reasoned and unconvincing argument”)
   • 2023 August 29, Andrew Feinberg, “Former Trump adviser scolded by judge for 'weak sauce' excuse for refusing to testify to Jan 6 committee”, in Yahoo Finance Canada‎^[1], retrieved 2023-09-12:

     The judge told the ex-Trump aide's lawyer, Stanley Woodward, that their argument was hard to support absent direct evidence that Mr 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 Trump once expressed regret for not letting him testify was "pretty weak sauce".

Related terms

• weak point