"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"
    }
  ],
  "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An incompetent or inept person."
      ],
      "id": "en-sad_sack-en-noun-gwxXrSpn",
      "links": [
        [
          "incompetent",
          "incompetent"
        ],
        [
          "inept",
          "inept"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "44 56",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 85",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "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 entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "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"
    }
  ],
  "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "sadsack"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Sad Sack",
    "Yank, the Army Weekly"
  ],
  "word": "sad sack"
}