"sad sack" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "US 1920s. Popularized by Sad Sack, a cartoon character and eponymous comic strip published originally June 1942 in Yank, the Army Weekly, a US Army publication for soldiers, and later syndicated in the US 1940s and 1950s. Presumably from vulgar “sad sack of shit” as cartoonist Sgt. George Baker said he took it from a “longer phrase, of a derogatory nature”. The term originally referred to a well-meaning but inept soldier.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sad sacks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sad sack (plural sad sacks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "chiefly",
        "3": "US"
      },
      "expansion": "(chiefly US)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "sack of shit"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "shitbag"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "49 51",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007 June 3, Cara Buckley, William K. Rashbaum, “4 Men Accused of Plot to Blow Up Kennedy Airport Terminals and Fuel Lines”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-04-05:",
          "text": "One law enforcement official played down Mr. Defreitas’s ability to carry out an attack, calling him “a sad sack” and “not a Grade A terrorist.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An incompetent or inept person."
      ],
      "id": "en-sad_sack-en-noun-gwxXrSpn",
      "links": [
        [
          "incompetent",
          "incompetent"
        ],
        [
          "inept",
          "inept"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "18 82",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 85",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 51",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010 July 26, Michiko Kakutani, “Love Found Amid Ruins of Empire”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "“Super Sad” takes as its Romeo and Juliet, its Tristan and Iseult, a middle-aged sad sack named Lenny Abramov and a much younger beauty named Eunice Park.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013 April 27, “Movie capsules: Arthur Newman”, in Boston Globe, retrieved 2015-04-05:",
          "text": "Weary of his drab life with its nowhere job, failed marriage, boring girlfriend, and estranged teenage son, a middle-aged sad sack fakes his death, changes his identity, and hits the road.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 29, Zach Schonfeld, “Film Review: Jason Schwartzman Is Charmingly Inept in 7 Chinese Brothers”, in Newsweek, retrieved 2015-04-05:",
          "text": "We meet him as he's on his way out, taking the news with equal parts tantrum and sad-sack acceptance.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 May 20, Alissa Wilkinson, “What We Lose When ChatGPT Sounds Like Scarlett Johansson”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "So Samantha, the A.I. assistant with whom the sad-sack divorcé Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) fell in love in “Her,” felt like a futuristic revelation.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A perennial failure or victim of misfortune."
      ],
      "id": "en-sad_sack-en-noun-U6b6POYO",
      "links": [
        [
          "perennial",
          "perennial"
        ],
        [
          "failure",
          "failure"
        ],
        [
          "misfortune",
          "misfortune"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "defeatist"
        },
        {
          "word": "loser"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-sad sack.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5e/En-au-sad_sack.ogg/En-au-sad_sack.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/En-au-sad_sack.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "sadsack"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Sad Sack",
    "Yank, the Army Weekly"
  ],
  "word": "sad sack"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "American English",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "US 1920s. Popularized by Sad Sack, a cartoon character and eponymous comic strip published originally June 1942 in Yank, the Army Weekly, a US Army publication for soldiers, and later syndicated in the US 1940s and 1950s. Presumably from vulgar “sad sack of shit” as cartoonist Sgt. George Baker said he took it from a “longer phrase, of a derogatory nature”. The term originally referred to a well-meaning but inept soldier.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sad sacks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sad sack (plural sad sacks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "chiefly",
        "3": "US"
      },
      "expansion": "(chiefly US)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "sack of shit"
    },
    {
      "word": "shitbag"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007 June 3, Cara Buckley, William K. Rashbaum, “4 Men Accused of Plot to Blow Up Kennedy Airport Terminals and Fuel Lines”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-04-05:",
          "text": "One law enforcement official played down Mr. Defreitas’s ability to carry out an attack, calling him “a sad sack” and “not a Grade A terrorist.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An incompetent or inept person."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "incompetent",
          "incompetent"
        ],
        [
          "inept",
          "inept"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010 July 26, Michiko Kakutani, “Love Found Amid Ruins of Empire”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "“Super Sad” takes as its Romeo and Juliet, its Tristan and Iseult, a middle-aged sad sack named Lenny Abramov and a much younger beauty named Eunice Park.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013 April 27, “Movie capsules: Arthur Newman”, in Boston Globe, retrieved 2015-04-05:",
          "text": "Weary of his drab life with its nowhere job, failed marriage, boring girlfriend, and estranged teenage son, a middle-aged sad sack fakes his death, changes his identity, and hits the road.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 29, Zach Schonfeld, “Film Review: Jason Schwartzman Is Charmingly Inept in 7 Chinese Brothers”, in Newsweek, retrieved 2015-04-05:",
          "text": "We meet him as he's on his way out, taking the news with equal parts tantrum and sad-sack acceptance.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 May 20, Alissa Wilkinson, “What We Lose When ChatGPT Sounds Like Scarlett Johansson”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "So Samantha, the A.I. assistant with whom the sad-sack divorcé Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) fell in love in “Her,” felt like a futuristic revelation.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A perennial failure or victim of misfortune."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "perennial",
          "perennial"
        ],
        [
          "failure",
          "failure"
        ],
        [
          "misfortune",
          "misfortune"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "defeatist"
        },
        {
          "word": "loser"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-sad sack.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5e/En-au-sad_sack.ogg/En-au-sad_sack.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/En-au-sad_sack.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "sadsack"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Sad Sack",
    "Yank, the Army Weekly"
  ],
  "word": "sad sack"
}